Meet Cute
by mascaret
Summary: Meet Cute is a way to quickly introduce two characters and set up their burgeoning relationship. A meet-cute is almost always rife with awkwardness, embarrassment, and sometimes outright hostility. Reddington vs Mr. Kaplan and of course there is a woman involved.
1. Chapter 1

Meet Cute is a way to quickly introduce two characters and set up their burgeoning relationship. A meet-cute is almost always rife with awkwardness, embarrassment, and sometimes outright hostility. Reddington vs Mr. Kaplan.

 _Meet Cute_

Her red hair was swept up in an elegant twist. One tendril of hair had escaped to fall down the side of her face.

Everything else about her – her clothes, her make up, her manicure, her jewelry, _everything_ was absolutely impeccable. Staring at that wisp, Raymond decided it had to have been left out deliberately.

She was older than the last time he had seen her, but she looked just as breathtakingly beautiful as he remembered her.

He never should have agreed to come. He didn't know why he was here. He didn't really want to be here … but now, now that he was here, he was curious. Raymond looked around the room trying to find a photograph, but there were none to be found.

The house was bigger and nicer than his. It was in a far tonier part of town. From what little he had seen of the inside so far, it was immaculate – but then with a cream sofa and cream carpets it would have to be. The room's furnishings were tastefully selected – all but the art.

He didn't care for the paintings on the walls. Unless they were posters on a college dorm room wall, he always found reproductions of famous works of art no matter how well done - and these were absolutely exquisite – to be tacky. He would just as soon display an original piece from an up and coming unknown artist rather than a knockoff.

He turned his attention back to her as she spoke. "You look good, Red. I know it's been a long time -"

"- That's an understatement." Raymond practically snapped.

She tensed at his anger. Her hand tightened on the glass of wine she held.

She had poured them both wine when they had first arrived but neither had actually drank any.

Once he noticed it, he couldn't help but stare at the wedding band sitting on her left hand like a very bad joke.

He lamented. "I don't even know what to call you anymore."

She looked disappointed. "Whatever you're comfortable with, Red."

He wasn't comfortable with anything about the current situation.

When he shook his head, she offered. "How about Annie?"

" _Annie."_ Raymond tried it out, but it didn't sound right. _"Annie."_

Picking up his glass, he took a sip of his wine as if it could wash out the bad taste of all of this.

He looked around the room again as if a photograph of their interloper might have suddenly appeared in the last few minutes. He knew that he had met her before but he couldn't remember her. He wasn't sure if it was because she was that unmemorable or if he just hadn't been paying attention. He would have paid more attention if he had known she was going to steal _Annie_ from him.

When his gaze lingered on the full size concert grand piano, she asked. "Do you still play?"

Annie had taught him how to play.

Fearing she might suggest a duet, he lied. "No. Not really."

As the awkward silence stretched out between them, she again tried to break it. "Would you like to go see the set of paintings I have been working on?"

Annie's art. That was why he was supposedly here, why they had left the restaurant to come here. Raymond shrugged indifferently. He didn't actually have any interest in seeing her paintings.

He heard the backdoor open and indistinct voices in the kitchen. Sensing a trap, Raymond stood in alarm ready to bolt. "Is that _her_? You told me that _she_ wouldn't be here!"

"No! It's not Kate! I told you – she's out of town until Friday."

"Then _who_ is here?" Raymond demanded.

"I don't know." Annie seemed flustered, genuinely unsure.

He should have just left. He should have just gone out the front door, but his curiosity got the better of him. He pushed his way through the kitchen door that - like Annie - swung both ways.

"Are you going to be able to make the stairs."

"I know of one way to find out."

Watching the pair from behind, at first Raymond thought she was drunk. Her arm was around his shoulder, his arm was around her waist. He looked like he was all but carrying her – and he looked like he had been about to all but carry her up the aforementioned stairs.

Annie had followed right behind him. "Kate? What are you doing here? Why aren't you in New York?"

At Annie's voice, the pair turned around and Raymond and Annie got their first look at them.

Annie gasped. "Kate, what happened?"

Raymond grabbed Annie by the forearm to stop her as she rushed towards Kate.

He held her back. He wanted to get a good look at _her –_ the woman who had taken Annie from him.

The man with her was inconsequential. He was just some uniformed driver.

Kate had her eyes on him, not Annie, as she answered. "It's nothing serious - just a touch of the flu."

She didn't look like she just had the flu.

"I thought I would come back early. I would have called to tell you, but I thought you were going to be out."

Kate with the assistance of her driver had made it to the base of the stairs before Raymond interrupted them. With a grimace, she took her hand off of the man's shoulder and moved it to the stair railing.

Gripping the handrail so tightly that her knuckles were white, Kate dismissed the driver. "Here is fine. You can get my luggage out of the car now."

"Okay." The driver propped her up against the wall of the staircase. Treating her like a china doll, he waited a moment to be sure she wouldn't tip over before he removed his arm and stepped away.

Annie was gorgeous.

This one was a plain Jane on the best of days – and this was certainly not one of her better days. Right now she looked like death just barely warmed over. She was pale and she looked clammy. Her hair looked stringy and unkempt. Her clothes were mismatched. Her light colored linen skirt was wrinkled and didn't pair with her black suit jacket. She had all the buttons done up on her blazer and she had her hand stuck in between two of the buttons like she thought she was Napoleon.

Annie was tall, elegant and ethereal. She had this Blanche Dubois quality about her.

This one was short, beady-eyed and insidious.

Raymond found it hard to believe that the two of them had ever gotten together. The age gap had to be something like twenty years. It was even harder to believe that they were still together.

Raymond couldn't understand the attraction. Annie was impeccable. Right now, this thing looked like something he would cross the street to avoid.

"Annie, I know you have company so I hate to ask, but I need you to go to the pharmacy to pick up a few things. I already called ahead the order."

Annie readily agreed. "Of course."

Glaring at Kate, Raymond asked. "Do you know who I am?"

Kate responded with no emotion just as the driver came back with her small suitcase. "I know who you are."

Annie looked torn between the two of them.

The driver put the case down, but eyeing the way Raymond was still holding Annie's arm, he made no move to leave. "Everything okay here, Mr. -"

The driver was clearly addressing Raymond as the only Mr. in the room, but Kate interrupted him. "- It's fine. You can go now."

When the driver still stood there, Kate's voice was oddly steely as she made a request. "Annie, could you get your wallet? I don't know if I have any cash to tip the man so he can leave."

Raymond let go of Annie's arm.

Annie left to retrieve her clutch from the foyer. Hurrying back, she didn't bother to count the money, she just handed all the cash that had been in it to the driver.

With a tip of his hat, finally, the driver left. Raymond turned to watch him until he was actually out the kitchen door.

Turning back towards the stairs, he discovered that while he hadn't been looking Kate had sat or possibly fallen. She was now sitting on the staircase with her hand still concealed in her suit jacket.

With him no longer physically restraining her, Annie - free to make a choice - rushed to Kate's side.

"Red, maybe it would be best if we did this another time."

Once again, she was picking Kate over him.

Bitterly, he responded. "I can show myself out."

Too busy fussing over her precious Kate, Annie couldn't even be bothered to look at him as she threw off another apology. "Red, I am sorry."

Going out the front door, Raymond wondered just what kind of crowd, what kind of trouble Annie had gone and gotten herself involved with since leaving him?

Kate wasn't merely pale. Raymond was Naval Intelligence, but he had on occasion volunteered for less cushy, temporary billets. He had been in combat situations. He recognized her coloring. He had seen it before out in the field in soldiers shortly before they finished bleeding out.

 _tbc_

A/N Yeah? Nay? Meh? Do tell.


	2. Chapter 2

A/N When writing I often find myself casting the OC parts. It may help the reader to know that the part of Annie would absolutely be played by Christina Hendricks.

 _Meet Cute_

 _Chapter 2_

He didn't have a car.

Annie seemed to have forgotten that they had left his car at the restaurant and traveled here together in her car.

Exiting the house, Raymond found Kate's driver still in the driveway. He was smoking. The driver nodded to him. "Not allowed to smoke in the company car."

Raymond glanced at the town car's plates. New York.

"That's going to be a long drive back." Raymond commented.

The driver shrugged indifferently.

He would have only had to walk a few blocks to get a cab. More just wanting to see the inside, Raymond asked. "I don't suppose I could trouble you for a ride?"

"I'm not allowed to pick up fares outside of New York. I could lose my livery license."

Raymond nodded.

Grinding out his cigarette, the driver sized him up and shrugged. "What the hell. I won't tell if you won't tell."

Getting into the car, Raymond gave the name of the nearby restaurant.

At the end of the driveway, the driver stopped. "You're going to have to help me out here. Left or right?"

Raymond gave him instructions while discreetly inspecting the interior of the car. Nothing stood out as obviously wrong.

A copy of the driver's license was displayed. Not wanting to be so obvious as to actually write it down, Raymond made a mental note of the name and number.

Taking out his handkerchief, he ran it along all the crooks and crannies. It came back spotless. Suspiciously spotless if it were a cab, but town cars had different standards.

This town car absolutely was of a higher standard Raymond realized as he set eyes on the car phone.

"Oh my heavens! Is that a real, _working_ car phone? I feel like a movie star or -" Picking up the phone, Raymond spoke into it. "This is the President of the United States. Launch the nukes."

He hit redial.

 _"Mercy Hospital. How may I direct your call?"_

"Hey! That's not a toy! Put that down!"

With the no longer so easy going driver glaring at him in the rear view mirror, Raymond put the phone back.

They had reached his chosen destination.

Getting out, Raymond gave him another test. "I travel to New York occasionally. I'm always looking for a good town car service. Do you have a card?"

"Sure do."

Raymond rubbed the card between his fingers. If it was a con, it was a good one. The paper was of medium quality. Not top shelf, but not cheap.

James – at least that was his name according to the license and business card – asked. "What's the easiest way back to the highway?"

Raymond sent him on the worst possible path. Out of the car, he waited and watched. At least until it went out of sight, the driver followed his directions. Either the man really didn't know his way around the city or he was fully committed to the ruse.

 _OOOO_

Jimmy pulled in right after Sam.

Sam waited for him to get out of the car.

"Teddy and I should be getting ready to head to New York. What are you doing here? Where's Mr. Kaplan?"

Sam didn't like the way Jimmy wouldn't look him in the eyes as he answered. "Inside."

Mr. Kaplan was sitting at the little corner breakfast area in the kitchen. Kate wasn't usually one for elbows on the table – Annie didn't allow it, but right now Annie was nowhere to be seen and Kate had one elbow on there with her head resting on her palm. He couldn't see her other hand.

Teddy, who lived closer, was already there in the kitchen with her. "Sam's here so you won't have to repeat yourself. _Now_ will you tell me what's going on? Why aren't you and Jimmy in New York and where did Annie take off to in such a hurry as soon as I got here?"

Sam questioned her. "Mr. Kaplan?"

"The job's not happening. We ran into a little trouble."

"What kind of trouble?" Sam asked.

"Two men came into the bank to rob it. On their way out, they decided to take a teller hostage to ransom for more money."

Teddy Brimley grumbled. "Hey! That's our schtick!"

Mr. Kaplan sounded almost winded as she pointed out. "They do say imitation is the sincerest form of flattery."

Picking up on what Kate wasn't straight out telling him, Sam frowned. "And they chose you as the hostage? What are the odds of that?"

Mr. Kaplan didn't answer.

"I loaded them up with everything I could, but they were amateurs and they were impatient."

"I'll say. The good stuff wasn't even suppose to get there until Thursday morning." Brimley pointed out.

Eyeing Mr. Kaplan, Sam's frown deepened. He was upset, but not about the botching of their plans. Kate wasn't one to spook easily, but she didn't look so good. And Jimmy wasn't his usual jovial self. He was way too quiet. He looked nervous. "What happened?"

"They had a van waiting out front. Once we were in it, they bound my hands together in front with duct tape."

"Duct tape? With the hands in the front? That _is_ amateur." Brimley agreed. "All you have to do is raise your hands over your head and it breaks right apart."

"I had the derringer strapped to my thigh. Counting the driver, there were three of them. I tried to wait until there were only two of them in the van, but let's just say I got a little impatient myself."

Sam was getting an uneasy feeling. "You said there were three. Your derringer holds two shots. What did you do about the third?"

"Well the third proved to be a little more of a challenge." Kate admitted. Using the hand not holding up her head, she opened up her dark colored blazer to reveal her blood saturated blouse underneath.

"I got the driver with one of his associate's guns, but not before he got me."

Sam swore. "Jesus Kate!"

"Now … I'm going to need one of you to get the bullet out."

 _tbc_

A/N Planning to post a half dozen or so updates of old stories and new stories in the next day or two. I enjoy writing longhand. Typing and editing – not so much. I have a few stories where I've posted multiple chapters and not heard a peep about them. In the interests of concentrating on only the stories people are actually interested in reading, I'll give it one more chapter for each and then not bother to continue updating the ones no one is interested in. So if a story is piquing your interest don't be shy about saying something.


	3. Chapter 3

A/N By chapter 5 the chapters will be much more Reddington centered I promise.

 _Meet Cute_

 _Chapter 3_

Getting into his car, telling himself he didn't want to get involved, Raymond started driving. He made it almost all the way home before deciding to double back.

 _OOO_

Despite being the one that had been shot, it still fell to Mr. Kaplan to be the one to take charge and try to calm them down. "Everybody just needs to take a deep breath and _not_ panic. Everything is going to be fine. I sent Annie to Mercy Hospital. I know a guy there, Benny. He works in the blood bank. She should be back soon. We get the bullet out, get a few pints of blood in me and everything will be fine."

At her insistence, they moved her into the bathroom, into the tub.

"The clean up will be much easier this way." Mr. Kaplan assured them.

Jimmy was looking almost as pale as Mr. Kaplan. "She didn't want to get the car dirty. She made me take the shower curtain from the apartment. The whole car ride down here, she was wrapped in it. She said that way if she didn't -" Jimmy couldn't finish.

Brimley told him. "Jimmy, you need to get rid of that."

"I will. It's in the trunk for now."

After getting her blazer and blouse off, Sam asked. "Kate, what the hell did they shoot you with? There's a string coming out of your side!"

Brimley was married. His face contorted. "Is that what I think it is? Is that a tampon?"

"It worked to contain the bleeding – for the most part – didn't it?"

Sam didn't like the looks of it. "Mr. Kaplan, I really think we need to get you to a hospital."

Kate refused. "Sam, I'm not going to the hospital. You know how I feel about hospitals."

"I know, Kate, but this isn't a simple through and through. This is bad. This is _really_ bad."

 _"_ Nohospitals."

"Mr. Kaplan, I know you don't like hospitals, but I don't see much of an option here."

"Sam, I said _no hospitals!_ "

"Listen, if this is because of the lesbian thing – I can take care of that. I can tell them I'm your brother. That way as your next of kin, they would let me decide medical treatment and who gets in to see you. I can make sure they let Annie in and -"

Jimmy spoke up. "- Sam, if you take her to the hospital with a gun shot wound the police will get involved."

Sam didn't care. "So let them. I'll make up a story. It was an accident. I was cleaning my gun and it went off."

Ever thinking ahead, Mr. Kaplan pointed out. "And when they ask to see the gun?"

"I'll tell them I was upset. I tossed it. Or I just left it there and someone must have found it and taken it. Or I'll tell them … I don't know what I'll tell them, but I'll come up with something!"

"No. You won't."

"Kate -"

"Sam, I'm not stepping foot in another hospital. Not tonight. Not ever. You know that and you know why."

When Sam went quiet, Mr. Kaplan moved on. "Okay so … who wants to get to dig out the bullet?"

Brimley mirthlessly pointed out. "That's usually your job, Kate."

"Well congratulations, Teddy. Today, it gets to be your job."

Sam agreed. "Teddy, you've got the steadiest hands. Go get Kate's kit from the office downstairs."

Brimley nodded and stepped out. He returned a minute later with the black doctor's bag and two tumblers of amber looking fluid – a straw in one. "Take a sip."

"No." Kate turned her head away as he offered her the one with the straw.

"Would you prefer vodka? You need to drink this. I'm not digging into you with either of us sober."

Kate shook her head. "I'm fine."

"Sure … except for the little hole in your side full of lead." Looking at her some more, Brimley shook his head. "I think we should wait until Annie gets back and we get a couple of those pints of blood in you before I go digging."

On that at least, Kate didn't argue. She nodded her agreement.

Half because they needed to know what kind of hole they were in, half to keep her focused and talking, Sam asked. "What happened after you got shot?"

"I took the money and torched the van – with the bodies and all the other evidence in it. There was nothing left of mine at the bank - I grabbed my purse and brought it with me when they took me out of the bank at gunpoint and I had already removed my application and other paperwork from the bank's files in anticipation of Thursday, but I still went back to the bank so I could tell them what happened – well a version of what happened."

Sam didn't understand. "Why would you do that?"

"So I could send the police on a snipe hunt. I told the police that there were four men. The two who came into the bank and two more waiting outside in the van. I told them that I managed to escape when the robbers started arguing amongst themselves and shooting each other.

"I told them I ran so I didn't know who won the gunfight. I gave them a very vague description of the four men, but I refused to go to the hospital or the station. Instead, I had the detectives take me back to my apartment. I wiped down the entire place. There are no prints and nothing left there to connect back to me or any of you."

" _After_ you were shot?" Sam asked. "You did all this _after_ you were shot?"

Brimley asked Jimmy the question Sam was wondering. "Where were you in all this?"

There was a beat before Kate answered for him. "I sent him on a few errands to get ready for Thursday."

Sam wasn't buying it, but now wasn't the time. He didn't like the way Kate was getting winded just trying to talk.

"It's like I said - everybody just needs to stay calm. There is nothing to worry about. Sam and Brimley, you two are in the clear. You two weren't even in New York yet. As long as no one panics and does something stupid we will all be fine. In a way, this was fortuitous."

"Fortuitous? _How?_ " Brimley asked.

"That schtick – robbing banks and kidnapping one of the tellers for ransom – it was played out. We had been doing it for years. It was time to find another one. This way, if anyone ever makes the connection, they'll pin it on these guys."

"Somehow I don't see Annie or Dom seeing you getting shot as fortuitous."

Kate ignored the comment.

Jimmy shook his head. "I don't like this."

"I am the only one with any skin in the game at the moment. Do I look worried?"

"You're Mr. Kaplan. You never look worried. We got out of New York clean, but what about that guy who was here tonight?"

"He's nobody for you to concern yourself with, Jimmy."

"What guy?" Sam asked.

"When we got back to the house, there was a guy here with Annie. When he came outside, he noticed the New York plates on the car. He said he travels to New York often. Asked for one of my cards."

Mr. Kaplan frowned. "Jimmy, if he has any doubts he'll call you in New York. You need to be there when he does. You should head back tonight."

Jimmy tried to argue. "I'm not leaving until I know you're going to be alright."

"Yes, you are." Mr. Kaplan wasn't having it. "I dropped most of the proceeds of the robbery in one of those curbside mail collection boxes around the corner from where I torched the van. It's going to raise questions if that money is found. You need to be back in NY to collect that money before the next Post Office pick up at ten tomorrow morning.

"In fact, you should go now. I don't want the car still here in case he comes back."

Jimmy didn't look happy about it, but with a last lingering look, he left the overcrowded bathroom.

Sam watched Kate shift trying to find a more comfortable position. Sam said it again. "Kate, we need to get you to a hospital. We'll be with you the whole time, but -"

Kate interrupted him. "- Annie will be back soon with the blood. Teddy is going to get the bullet out so there is really no reason for you to hang around, Sam. You should head out."

Sam got the hint. He dropped the idea.

Frustrated, feeling like he wanted to punch the wall, he instead ran a hand through his hair. "What can we do here? _Now_ while we wait for Annie to get back? There has to be _something_ we can do _now._ "

Frowning, Kate looked at him a moment before letting out a shaky breath. "Sam?"

"Yeah?"

"Have you done anything or anyone stupid lately?"

"Asks the lady in the bathtub with the bullet in her side." She looked a mess. Sam brushed the hair out of her face before answering more seriously. "Nothing stupid on my end of late."

"We could do a field transfusion."

As soon as she said it, Sam started rolling up his sleeve.

Kate directed Teddy on what to get out of the bag.

She tried to get the needle in herself, but her hand was shaking too much. Sam stopped her. He held her hand. There was no warmth in it. "Just talk Teddy through it."

"Keep squeezing your hand into a fist and then releasing. It keeps the blood flowing. Eight to ten minutes is a pint. Don't go longer than twelve."

"Sure. Let me borrow your watch to keep track." Sam slipped her wristwatch off before she could realize what he was doing.

Teddy glanced his way around the ten minute mark, but neither said anything. Kate didn't exactly pink up, but she did lose that ghastly pallor. Still, Sam found it concerning that they made it almost to twenty minutes before Kate questioned the time."

Even with the blood, Kate seemed to be fading. Sam tried to keep her awake and talking. "Now you sent Annie to go get the blood, but Annie faints at the sight of blood so how's that going to work? Do you tell them to put it in a little doggie bag for her?"

Kate shifted around again, but she didn't bother to open her eyes as she answered. "Well it looks a lot less suspicious than seeing her walking out of the hospital carrying little pouches of blood."

Teddy joined in on trying to keep her awake and talking. "Something I never understand about Annie and her fainting. How is it that when Annie's cracking someone over the head with something she doesn't pass out after the first hit?"

"She faints because of a drop of blood pressure. Get her angry enough and her blood pressure goes high enough that she doesn't faint until she starts to calm down."

"So what do four pints of premium go for these days on the black market?"

"A cabbage patch kid per."

"Come again?" Sam asked.

"They're these little dolls. They're kind of creepy, but the stores can't keep them in stock. At the moment, they're probably more valuable than gold. I have a pallet of them in the garage."

"Thank God my girls are all past that age."

When Mr. Kaplan shifted again trying to get comfortable, Brimley nudged him. When Sam looked his way, he didn't at all like the look on Brimley's face.

Sam followed Brimley's gaze to where the other man had been checking out Kate's legs as her little movements made her skirt ride higher.

Just when he thought the night couldn't get any worse. Sam tipped his head towards the door. He waited until Brimley had excused himself from the room before asking her.

"Kate, honey, is there something you're leaving out? Did something else happen in the van?"

"No."

"Were you shot anywhere else?"

"No."

"Okay. I'm going to get you out of the rest of these clothes just to be sure."

Opening her eyes, she looked at him quizzically. "Sam?"

"Kate ..."

Lifting her head with far too much effort, she followed his gaze. There was blood on her inner thigh.

Her expression crumbled. "Don't tell Annie."

Unsure if that was better or worse than what he initially thought, Sam cursed. "She doesn't know?"

"You know how she is. She gets too worked up, too excited and … she worries. I didn't want her to be sad if it didn't work out. I was holding off on telling her until the second trimester."

She didn't want Annie to be _sad._ Of course not. Annie being sad wasn't allowed as far as Kate was concerned. Sam bit back a sigh.

"How about the proud Papa?" Sam asked. "Does he know?"

Mr. Kaplan flashed him a look of irritation which he found preferable to the weepy look. "Sam, you know nobody likes to talk about how the sausage gets made."

"How far along are you? Were you?" Sam corrected himself.

"I don't know. Not more than four, maybe five weeks."

Completely out of his depth, Sam asked. "What do we do about it?"

She sighed. "Nothing. It's not exactly surprising. I did just get shot. It's a self cleaning oven. It should just take care of itself."

It sounded inadequate, but Sam didn't know what else to say. "I'm sorry."

She gestured to the linen closet. Sam pulled out a few fluffy towels and arranged them over and around her. It was something he should have already done to help keep her warm.

"You know I read a thing in a magazine about these places, these banks where you can go to get help with trying to have a baby. You can pick out the guy's hair and eye color. Even what school he went to."

"They require that you be married at those clinics. No singles and certainly no unnatural couplings."

Sam frowned. "If you wanted to go to one of those places instead of what you've been doing, I could go with you. We could tell them I'm your husband."

"What is this Chinatown? You're my brother. Your my husband. No, your my brother _and_ my husband!"

"Is this the part where I get to slap you?" Sam asked.

She made a sound that was something like a chuckle and rubbed at her eyes.

Sam admitted. "I just don't like the idea of you going to some seedy hotel with an even seedier guy."

"Really Sam? You're picking _now_ to bring _that_ up?"

Sam shrugged.

"Sam, if you're wondering why you're not married and you don't have a girlfriend, it's because you have no sense of timing."

"Maybe, but right now I've got a captive audience." Sam reached out to brush the hair out of her face again. "I was just thinking … Teddy makes some pretty cute babies. Maybe -"

"- Oh wow! Sam, _that_ is _not_ going to happen."

"I'm just trying to look out for you."

"I know you are, but I'm fine."

Except for the part where she was bleeding to death in the bath tub. Where the hell was Annie?

 _tbc_

A/N If you are reading be a dear and leave a review to let me know what you think.


	4. Chapter 4

A/N By chapter 5 the chapters will be much more Reddington centered – I promise!

 _Meet Cute_

 _Chapter 4_

Stepping out into the kitchen, Brimley found Jimmy still here. "You sure aren't good at following directions, are you?"

"Don't worry. I moved the car. I moved all the cars, but I wasn't going to leave without knowing that Mr. Kaplan is going to be okay."

Teddy shook his head, but he could hardly fault him for that. What he would be faulting him for was the thing he was currently worried had gone down in the van before Mr. Kaplan had taken control of the situation.

"Besides, I'm worried about that guy. The one that was here tonight – I didn't like him. Annie's suppose to be home alone only we get here and there's some guy here with her? This guy and Annie, they seemed pretty close."

"What makes you think that?" Brimley asked.

"Cause when Annie went running to see Mr. Kaplan, he grabbed her arm and stopped her."

"And?"

"And Annie let him. She didn't take his head clean off for it."

Aware that that was not at all like Annie, Brimley asked. "Who was the guy?"

Jimmy shook his head. "I don't know, but I got the idea that Mr. Kaplan knows who he is."

"What makes you think that?"

"Because he asked her – 'Do you know who I am' and Mr. Kaplan said back to him 'I know who you are.'"

Brimley rolled his eyes.

Jimmy insisted. "You weren't there, but I am telling you there was some serious tension in the room. This guy was staring daggers at Mr. Kaplan."

"So what are you suggesting?"

"You know what they say – Once a cheater, always a cheater and from what I've heard, Annie wasn't exactly unattached when her and Mr. Kaplan got together.

Brimley dismissed his accusations. "You know what I think? I think you're casting aspersions trying to draw attention away from yourself."

"All I'm saying is who is he and what was he doing here?"

Brimley warned him. "If I were you I would be less worried about him and more worried about Annie and Dom. You were suppose to be in New York to assist Kate. Mr. Kaplan is covering for you, but what do you think is going to happen when Annie and Dom realize you left Mr. Kaplan all on her own?"

"That's not fair! She was at the bank - working. I don't work at the bank. I can't be calling attention to myself hanging around all day at a place that I don't work at! How was I suppose to know what was going on?"

Teddy wasn't impressed. "I'm sure Annie will be real understanding when you explain it like that."

Jimmy tried to argue with him. "Mr. Kaplan's a big girl. She can take care of herself."

" _Clearly,_ but that's not the point. You were suppose to be there in New York as muscle. What do you think Dom's going to do when he finds out you let something happen to one of his girls?"

Jimmy protested. "Mr. Kaplan is _not_ one of Dom's girls. Mr. Kaplan's not anyone's girl."

"You know that. I know that. Kate knows that. Dom? Not so much."

Teddy stuck a finger in Jimmy's chest. "You get in that car and you hightail it back to New York right now just like Mr. Kaplan said because … getting out of town right now might not be such a bad idea for you, Jimmy. I certainly wouldn't want to be in your shoes when Annie and Dom find out about your screw up."

"How did I screw up? I wasn't even there! The job was supposed to be Thursday!"

"Kate's shot. You're not. In my book, that's you screwing up. Not to worry though. I'm sure once Dom hears about this, he'll fix that for you real quick."

"I didn't do anything wrong!"

"From where you're looking at it, you didn't do anything wrong. From where I'm looking at it, you didn't do anything right."

When Jimmy still didn't make a move for the door, Teddy added. "I know you been double dipping."

"I don't know what you mean."

Jimmy's lips might be denying it, but the rest of his face wasn't.

Teddy explained how he knew. "Me and Mr. Kaplan, we've been doing this for years. Mr. Kaplan has never liked to do jobs close to home. Every time we would get ready to head out someplace for a few weeks for a new job, Dom used to pay me a little visit. He'd offer me a little something on the side to keep a close eye on Mr. Kaplan or both of the girls if Annie was coming along too. Now Mr. Kaplan's rule has always been you work with her or you work for Dom – but not both. I always turned him down on the money part – _respectfully_ \- because I know a good thing when I've stepped in it. But it didn't matter how many times I said no. He kept asking every time we would head out.

"But not long after you came along, he stopped offering.

"Now, I'm no genius, but it doesn't take a genius to figure out why he stopped asking. So if I were you, I would start listening to what Mr. Kaplan told you to do. Get back in that car and head for New York before Dom gets word that he hasn't been getting what he's been paying for and he comes looking for a refund."

Finally, reluctantly, Jimmy went out the door.

 _OOO_

Driving by, Raymond found the front of the house dark. Annie's car was gone. The driveway was empty.

No one was home, but that was okay. He had a pretty good idea of where they went.

 _OOO_

Teddy came to the door and tipped his head back towards the kitchen.

"I'll be right back." Sam told Mr. Kaplan.

"How's it going in there?"

Thinking Kate wouldn't want everyone knowing her business, Sam lied. "It's just that time of the month. That's why she had the tampon in her purse."

"That's a relief because we've got a problem."

"You mean _besides_ Kate bleeding to death in the bathtub?"

"Bigger than that."

"How can there be a problem _bigger_ than that?"

"If I know Mr. Kaplan and I do, she's going to think so."

Sam didn't even try to guess. "What is it?"

Teddy laid it out for him. "That no good tramp Annie has been stepping out on our Mr. Kaplan."

 _"What?"_

"When Jimmy and Mr. Kaplan got here - according to Jimmy – the fellow who was here with Annie was being a little too familiar."

Sam denied it. "No. Annie wouldn't … She just wouldn't. Her and Mr. Kaplan are solid."

"Okay." Teddy didn't argue. "So maybe I pay this fellow a visit and I make sure he understands that."

Sam rubbed his face with his hand. "I can't deal with this right now."

"Nobody's asking you to. I will. I just need to find him."

"What are you going to do when you find him?"

"What do you think I'm going to do? I'm going to cut off his no good pecker!"

"What part of lay low and don't do anything to draw attention to ourselves are you and Jimmy not understanding?"

"Sam, just get me a name. Maybe a general description and you let me worry about the rest."

 _OOO_

"So about that visitor that Annie had when you and Jimmy arrived ... " Sam watched Mr. Kaplan's expression turn to irritation. "I already told you. It's nothing for you to be worried about, Sam."

"Mr. Kaplan, you know we're just looking out for you. What's Annie doing having some guy in your house when you're not here?"

"It is her house too, Sam."

"Kate … who was the guy? Jimmy said you knew him. What's his name?"

Kate sighed. "His name is Reddington."

Both of Sam's eyebrows flew up. "Annie's prick of an ex?"

Kate's head lolled to the side. "Raymond."

Sam didn't know what to make of that. "Is he going to be trouble?"

"I said I would handle it, Sam. Just leave it alone. Please."

 _OOO_

Brimley and Sam were back to taking turns trying to keep her awake and talking.

Sam asked another question. She didn't reply. "Kate?"

Her eyes were closed. "Kate?"

Sounding every bit like the scared little boy he felt like, he called her name again. "Katie?"

A nervous Brimley reached across him to feel for a pulse. Teddy closed his eyes and sighed in relief. "She just sleeping. Or maybe unconscious."

Despite his immense relief, Sam shook his head. "I can't take this anymore."

When he backed up out of the room, Teddy followed him.

"Kate needs to go to the hospital."

Brimley argued. "Mr. Kaplan said no hospital."

"I know, but I'm not going to just stand here and let Kate die in that bathtub. I'm getting her to a hospital!"

Brimley warned him. "If you take her to a hospital, Kate and Annie, they'll never forgive you."

"I can live with them mad at me."

Brimley argued. "You can live with Kate mad at you. Annie – with her temper – not so much."

"I can't live with Kate dying. I'm calling an ambulance."

As Sam tried to pick the phone up off the wall, Brimley put his hand on the phone to stop him. "It will be faster if we drive her."

Sam nodded. "You get the car. I'll get Kate."

Before Teddy could make it to the door, it swung open.

"Sam, why aren't you with Mr. Kaplan?" Annie asked as she came in carrying two large Bloomingdale's shopping bags.

Sam took the bags out of her hands and looked inside.

"I was worried four pints weren't going to be enough, so I got six. I also have saline and I.V. antibiotics."

Sam handed them to Brimley. "Take them and get Mr. Kaplan started. I'll explain the situation to Annie."

Teddy nodded.

"Annie, we need to get Mr. Kaplan to a hospital."

"Kate doesn't want that. She said no hospitals."

"I know, but you need to think big picture here, Annie. If we don't get Kate some medical attention _now_ you aren't going to have to worry about what Kate wants or doesn't want."

Annie's tone was getting angry and her glare was no nonsense. "You know Mr. Kaplan won't go to a hospital and you know why. Now stop wasting time and go help Jimmy empty the trunk."

"Jimmy's still here?"

"He was waiting outside for me."

Sam had looked in the bags. The blood and the saline and the other stuff were in them. Sam asked. "What's in the trunk?"

Annie's reply was steely. "The doctor."

 _tbc_

A/N Trying to get the whole thing up before Thursday night so if you are reading I'd love a little encouragement.


	5. Chapter 5

_Meet Cute_

 _Chapter 5_

Raymond made a beeline for Mercy Hospital.

Walking into the emergency room, he could only get so far before he had no choice but to stop at the reception desk.

"I'm looking for a patient. She would have -"

The receptionist interrupted him. "- Name?"

"My name or -"

"- The patient's name."

"Kate. Or some variation of."

"Last name?"

"I'm not sure, but the name's not important – first or last – because she most likely would have given a false one." Raymond started to give a description. "She's Caucasian. Around 40. Or 45. Maybe 50. Probably not 50." Raymond admitted. That was just him being catty. "Brown hair – cut to a little above the shoulder. She would have been admitted in the last hour with a gunshot wound. Or a stab wound. Maybe stab _wounds._ "

The woman at the desk looked at him dubiously. "Are you family of this woman whose name and age you don't know and whose injuries you aren't even sure of? Because I can't give out information on patients to anyone except immediate family."

Raymond took out his Naval Intelligence ID card. In it's leather holder with the flip down cover, it could maybe sometimes pass as a more official badge like piece of identification. He flashed it her way. "I could really use your help here. This is important. This is really important." He lowered his voice to add. "It could be a matter of _national_ security."

The woman at the desk was not impressed. "I thank you for your service to our country now give me a name or take a seat before I call security."

Raymond frowned. "I'd like to talk to your manager."

The woman crossed her arms. "This is not Cracker Barrel. Name. Seat. Or security. Those are your options."

Raymond headed to the seats in the waiting room to bide his time.

At least there, he would be able to spot a grieving Annie as she left the hospital sans Kate.

Truly, he wasn't sure what his motivation was for being there. Was he there in the hopes of helping a devastated Annie pick up the pieces of her shattered life? Or was he just there because he wanted to see her fall apart at the loss of the woman she had left him for?

 _OOO_

Jimmy didn't need any help emptying out the trunk. A stunned Sam was still standing there staring at Annie when Jimmy walked in.

Like a prisoner of war, the very nervous looking woman started reciting her information as soon as he had her in the kitchen. "My name is Marjorie Givens. I have a husband and three children. If I'm not back soon people are going to notice I'm gone. Benny knows I left with her. "

"Don't worry, doc." Jimmy assured her. "We just need you to help our friend. Then you're free to go. Right this way." Sam watched Jimmy hold her by the elbow and lead her to the bathroom.

Two went in and one came out. Teddy joined him in the kitchen with Annie.

Sam and Teddy shared a look – the one that said here we go again.

Annie tried, she really did, but somehow her attempts at helping almost always seemed to cause more trouble. Kate was forever having to clean up her messes. It was _one_ of the reasons they had started leaving Annie home years ago. If only Kate wasn't so damn crazy about her …

Trying to figure out if there was any way to salvage the situation, Sam asked. "What did you tell her to get her in the car?"

"She saw me bringing Benny those dolls. She wanted to know if I had any more. She offered me $100 each if I could get her three of them. I told her I had more, a lot more – in the trunk of my car. She went with me to the parking lot. I popped the trunk and told her to look inside to pick out which three she wanted. They come in all different hair and eye colors. When she leaned over, I -" Annie pantomimed slamming the trunk on the woman.

This poor woman – she had tried to do something nice for her kids and look what it got her.

Sam tried to explain to Annie the problem that she had just caused. "Annie, I don't think you understand. What you just did, this complicates the situation."

"I'm not an idiot, Sam. She's seen my face. I know what that means. We're going to have to kill her."

Sam cringed. "Annie, she just said that Benny – whoever the hell that is – knows that she was with you!"

"I know. Benny works at the hospital in the blood bank. Mr. Kaplan knows him. He's the one that Kate called to ask for the blood and all the other things." She added as if it was no big thing. "We're going to have to kill him too."

"Jesus Annie!" Sam didn't know what to say. Could Kate pick them or could Kate pick them?

Brimley took a run at it. "Annie, Mr. K., she not going to like that. The guys in the van – that was one thing, but the doctor lady and this Benny …"

Annie was getting defensive – which was never a good thing. "Mr. Kaplan didn't want to go to the hospital and I couldn't ask her to – not after the last time."

Sam couldn't help thinking Annie should have tried. Kate was so crazy about her, Annie could talk her into anything. Hell, she had talked her into trying to have a baby at her age.

"I found a doctor to bring to Kate – a woman doctor. This was the best I could do." Annie looked back and forth between the two of them. "I don't care how many people we have to kill. All I care about is making sure Kate doesn't die."

Annie fixed her gaze on Sam and challenged him. "What do you care about, Sam?"

Annie was looking reasonably collected at the moment, but her eyes had that raccoon look women got when their eye makeup ran. She must have been crying in the car.

From what Kate had said, Annie was already having a tricky enough night before Kate and Jimmy showed up. Sam softened and relented – not that they had much choice now. Sam kissed her on the forehead and told her. "You did good. Kate needed a doctor. You got her one."

Mr. Kaplan might be absolutely crazy about Annie, but it wasn't exactly as if it was a one way street.

Sam tried to rally himself to what had to be done. "Okay. We get her to patch Kate up and then we get rid of her."

"And Benny." Annie reminded him.

"And Benny." Sam agreed with a sigh.

Annie nodded satisfied. "I'm going in to see Mr. Kaplan."

And here they went again … "Annie, you can't go in there."

Annie going in there and passing out at the sight of what was going on was the last thing they needed.

But Annie insisted. "I am going in there to be with Mr. Kaplan."

Sam grabbed her elbow as she started to walk past him.

The glare she gave him almost had him backing down. " _Sam_..."

"- Close your eyes." Sam instructed her. "I'll take you in there, but it's not pretty. You have to close your eyes."

Swallowing, Annie nodded.

"Keep them closed." To be doubly sure, Sam put his hand over her eyes.

He gave a little tap on the bathroom door before pushing it open. "Room for two more?"

Kate was awake again which Sam took as a good sign.

Seeing Annie, she tried to sit up a little straighter and to better hide the pain she was obviously in.

The doctor had started a second line in Kate's other arm. She was starting to get a bit of color back.

The wound area was draped. Looking a lot less nervous now that she was keeping busy, the doctor looked about ready to start doing her thing.

Looking at Jimmy, Sam tipped his head towards the kitchen. Instead of taking the hint, Jimmy took Annie's arm and guided her over to the end of the tub with Kate's head. He helped her get into a kneeling position next to Kate. Blindly, Annie reached out a hand. Kate took it.

"Don't look so worried. I'm going to be fine." Kate assured her.

"You better be." Annie warned her slipping her fingers between Kate's.

"I'm going to head back to New York, but Annie if you or Mr. Kaplan need anything you just call me."

Jimmy finally left.

"I'm going to start cutting now." The doctor informed Kate. "I'll do it just the way you requested."

Sam handed Kate a clean washcloth from the closet to bite down on. He cringed watching Kate's body tense and her try not to cry out as the doctor got started, but he didn't look away.

"Mr. Kaplan?!" Annie cried out as Kate's hand went slack in hers only a minute in.

"Keep your eyes closed!" Sam warned Annie before assuring her. "It's okay. She just passed out." He took Annie's other hand and put it on Kate's wrist so she could feel her pulse.

"That's not a bad thing. It will let her get through the worse of it." The doctor assured them with a note of apology in her tone. "I don't have anything with me for pain management. I can write you a script for something when we get back to the hospital."

Little did she know … Sam didn't say anything.

 _tbc_

A/N Obviously going au after last night but if people are still interested I will keep posting.


	6. Chapter 6

_Meet Cute_

 _Chapter 6_

Raymond bided his time until the hall monitor from hell was distracted by the arrival of a group of frat boys who thought they could get away with bringing a keg inside with them to wait for their fraternity brother's turn to see a doctor.

"Oh hell no!" She got up leaving the entry way unattended.

Raymond slipped past the red line.

He flagged down a white coat scurrying by with an armful of supplies. He had better luck using his Naval ID card on the young man who looked to be an intern or a resident at best. "Has anyone been brought in with gunshot or stab wounds in the last hour?"

"Are you kidding me? We're an hour from Baltimore, the murder capital of America. Of course we have. Three or four."

Raymond told him. "Show me."

"Look, I'm sorry, I'd like to help you, but we're really busy and we're short staffed."

"Point me in the most likely direction."

"Check behind those curtains."

Passing the doctor's lounge, Raymond ducked in and grabbed an unattended white coat off of a chair.

Wearing the little white coat and holding a clipboard, he found that could go just about anywhere he wanted with impunity.

Curtain by curtain, room by room, he checked the entire E.R.

Coming up empty, after a moment's consideration, he took the elevator to the floor with the operating rooms.

 _OOO_

Trying to leave space for the doctor to work and Annie to be with Kate, Sam crowded the entrance to the bathroom with Brimley. Maybe it was Sam's imagination but the doctor seemed to be moving slower and slower the closer she got to being done patching Kate up. She was also back to looking nervous. The way she kept glancing up from her work to look at Kate was starting to make Sam suspect that something had gone wrong.

 _OOO_

Having had no luck upstairs or downstairs at the morgue, Raymond returned to the emergency room. They had to be somewhere.

Seeing the same young doctor from earlier at the nurse's station talking to a nurse, Raymond tried to get his attention again.

"I'm sorry. I already told you – I'd like to help you, but we're really short staffed. One of our doctors disappeared."

"You're _missing_ a doctor?"

"Yes. I can't find Dr. Givens anywhere. No one can."

Raymond realized why he couldn't find Kate anywhere in the hospital. "Call the police. Now!"

 _OOO_

The doctor was back to looking nervous. The way she kept glancing up from her work to look at Kate was starting to make Sam suspect that something had gone wrong.

So he was quite relieved when Kate finally came to.

The doctor looked relieved too.

With a couple more stitches, the doctor finished sewing her up.

"Sam ..." Kate used her free hand to crook a finger.

Stepping past the doctor, Sam moved closer. "What is it, Kate? What do you need?"

But Kate turned her attention to Annie. Unlacing her finger's from Annie's. Kate reached out to instead cup Annie's cheek. "I told you it would be fine. It's all done. You can go ahead and open your eyes now."

Mr. Kaplan wasn't thinking straight. The bullet might be out and the hole might be sewn closed, but there was still a lot of blood to clean off of her.

Sam tried to warn Annie - "No don't! Wait!" - but it was too late.

Or maybe Mr. Kaplan was thinking Sam realized. She had called him over to be in arms reach to grab Annie and she had hold of Annie's head to make sure it didn't hit the floor or the side of the tub if he hadn't been quick enough on the uptake.

From the bottom of the bathtub, looking better, but still looking half dead, in no uncertain terms, Kate told him. "Sam, you give Annie to Teddy and then you give Dr. Givens twice whatever Annie promised her to get her here and you take her straight back to the hospital. Do you understand me?"

 _OOO_

Raymond asked. "You're _missing_ a doctor?"

"Yes. I can't find Dr. Givens anywhere. No one can."

Raymond realized why he couldn't find Kate anywhere in the hospital. "Call the police. Now."

The intern and the nurse both looked at him like he was being ridiculous.

The nurse told Raymond. "He didn't mean _literally_ disappeared."

Raymond countered. "No, he's right. I believe your doctor has been kidnapped."

The nurse expressed her doubt. "I'm sure she just found an empty room and is taking a nap."

"No." Raymond shook his head. "Listen to me and listen to me _very_ carefully. Your Dr. Givens is in _grave_ danger. If you don't call the police right now, right this very second, you are never going to see her again – at least not alive!"

The two of them looked at him dubiously.

Raymond insisted. "You have to believe me – _your Dr. Givens is in grave danger!"_

Approaching the nurse's station, a female doctor picked up a chart and joined their conversation. "Why is Dr. Givens in grave danger?"

The nurse answered dryly. "Because you've been kidnapped and we're never going to see you again alive."

"Oh dear. That doesn't sound good." Said the new arrival. As she turned his way, Raymond saw the name Dr. Givens embroidered on her coat.

"No, it doesn't." The nurse agreed. "But on a _completely unrelated note,_ I think I found the patient in need of a psych consult who wandered away from curtain three."

 _OOO_

Having succeeded in avoiding a 48 hour psych hold only because the actual missing patient was found, Raymond chased after Dr. Givens.

She dismissed his concerns. "I wasn't missing. I was meeting with a donor."

"At this time of night?"

"It's when I work. The night shift. Was I suppose to do it on my time off?"

"What kind of donor agrees to meet at this time of night?" Raymond asked.

"One that wants to be anonymous. Now if you'll excuse me -" Unlocking her office door, she tried to duck inside and close the door to avoid talking to him anymore. "- I'm very busy."

Unable to believe his eyes, Raymond stuck his foot in the door to keep her from closing it. Forcing the door open further so he could get in, staring at the boxes practically filling the oversized closet of a room, he asked. "Are those boxes really all Cabbage Patch dolls?"

"Yes." Dr. Givens admitted. "They were donated for the pediatric ward."

Raymond was on a mission, but he found himself getting sidetracked. "Would you consider selling one of those dolls?"

She was astounded. "You want to buy a toy that was donated for sick children?"

"It's pretty tacky." Raymond admitted. "But I really, _really_ need one before next month. All the stores are sold out. They have been for months and you seem to have a lot of them."

Looking at him like he was the lowest of the low, she countered. "I do. I also have a lot of sick kids in the pediatric ward. I think you should go now."

As she tried to herd him out, Raymond saw the bag hanging off the hook on the back of the door. "Why are these three in a bag?" Raymond asked.

He glanced back at the framed picture on her desk and counted three children.

"Are you stealing these?"

She folded her arms defensively. "You should definitely go. _Now._ "

 _OOO_

Kate woke up on the wrong side of the bed. _Literally,_ the wrong side of the bed.

Finding Annie not on what was usually Kate's side of the bed, but instead in a chair pulled up to the side of the bed, Kate commented. "I know you can be a little finicky at times and I am sleeping on your side of the bed, but does that really mean that you are going to sleep in a chair all night?"

"I'm not going to sleep. I need to watch you. Make sure you don't aspirate."

"I'm not going to aspirate." Kate squinted trying to get her eyes to focus on the book in Annie's hands without the benefit of her glasses. It was one of Kate's old medical texts. Annie was reading up on post operative care. Thankfully, it was a rather dry book with only drawings, no pictures.

Kate hadn't seen that book in over twenty years. Just the sight of it was enough to put a knot in her stomach. "Oh sweetie, don't read that."

Annie put down the book and took the hand Kate offered.

Kate asked. "Is Sam's back?"

Annie nodded. "He made Teddy go home, but he wanted to stay the night in case we needed anything. I can get him if you want him."

That wasn't necessary. Kate shook her head.

"Are you mad at me?" Annie asked.

"How could I ever be mad at you?" Kate answered. She apologized. "I'm sorry I put you in that position. I should have just gone to the hospital. Sam was right. We wouldn't have had any trouble talking our way out of a little gun shot wound with a simple bickering Bickersons routine."

The long suffering wife who finally agrees to go on a hunting trip with her husband only to get accidentally shot by him on the first day would have played out nicely.

Annie squeezed her hand. "I wouldn't ask you to do that."

"If I promise not to aspirate, will you come to bed?"

Annie smiled and reached out to cup her cheek. "I don't want to jostle the bed and hurt you."

"I'm not that fragile." Kate argued but her next words weren't the most convincing argument. "I don't remember how I got here."

"You passed out again when you insisted on trying to walk up the stairs instead of letting Teddy carry you."

Kate frowned and sighed. "They know I hate it when they pick me up and carry me places. It's demeaning."

"So ... instead of just letting him carry you, he got to watch you make it all of two stairs before swooning, had to catch you and _then_ he still got to carry you up the stairs."

Kate sighed again - this time a bit more good-humoredly.

Annie added. "He didn't know which side."

"He couldn't figure it out by the items on top of our nightstands?"

Annie smiled. "I think he had a few other things on his mind. Or maybe he thinks you would look good in petal pink nail polish instead of clear."

"And he thinks I read Dostoyevsky in the original Russian?"

"It really is so much more powerful in the original Russian." Annie argued stroking her thumb across Kate's cheek.

Annie scolded her as she tried to scoot over to her own side of the bed. "Don't try to move."

"I have to if you're not willing to sleep on my side."

Annie opened a pill bottle and started to shake out a few pills, but hesitated. "Kate … is there any chance you could be …?"

Looking down, Kate shook her head. "Not yet and with this happening, we should probably take a month or two off from trying."

Annie stared at her a moment before nodding and handing her the pills and a glass of water. After Kate had swallowed, Annie took the glass and put it back on the nightstand on a coaster.

Kicking off her heels, Annie finally gave in and climbed into the bed beside her.

Kate bit her lip to keep from hissing in pain as she did get jostled.

Annie rested her forehead against Kate's. "That must be a relief for you. Taking a little time off from trying"

Kate gave a little nod, but didn't say anything. She moved her head down to be resting on Annie's shoulder.

Annie might have misinterpreted her reticence. "You must find it awful."

That was a loaded question. One to which there was no right answer. If she said yes, Annie would be upset. If she said no, Annie would be a different kind of upset.

Kate didn't know the right answer so tipping her head back up to look at Annie she went with a truth. "It's … tolerable … for the short term. I want to have a baby _with_ you."

"I want to have a baby with you. Really with you." Annie said it back to her before kissing her.

Pulling back, Annie pleaded with her. "Don't scare me like that again, Mr. Kaplan."

"I won't."

Kate changed the subject. "I'm sorry I interrupted your evening with Raymond. I knew you were meeting him at the restaurant. I didn't realize you would be bringing him to the house after."

"Kate, you got shot. You don't have to apologize – besides ..." Annie looked disappointed as she admitted. " … things weren't exactly going well before you showed up."

It was Annie's turn to sigh. "We met at the restaurant. I kept trying to start a conversation with him, but he didn't have much to say. He kept just giving me these one or two word answers. Mostly, he just stared. Glared might be a better word."

Kate didn't know what to say so she just tried to looked sympathetic.

"After I asked him about his work - which he couldn't or wouldn't tell me about because it's classified - he asked what I did. I told him I painted. I brought him back to the house because I was going to show him the paintings I've been working on."

Annie didn't but Kate saw the red flag in that. The series of paintings that Annie was currently working on were Monet ... inspired. Keeping her tone casual, Kate asked. "Did you get a chance to show him the paintings before I arrived?"

Annie looked at her and frowned. "We can talk about Raymond later. You need your rest. You look exhausted."

Her eyelids were getting extremely heavy.

Annie was still in her dress from earlier in the evening. "You're still wearing your makeup. You should take it off. Your eczema will flare up."

Stroking her cheek, Annie smiled and kissed her again before ordering her. "Stop worrying about absolutely everything and just rest. You tell everyone that I'm a worrier, but you are every bit as bad. Probably worse."

Kate couldn't disagree.

 _OOO_

Having reached one dead end, deciding to work the problem from the other end, Raymond drove across town. He parked next to the newsstand. He dozed off in the driver's seat for a few hours until he heard the sound of the metal gate being pulled up indicating the shop was opening.

One of the beautiful things about D.C. was that a few of the bigger newsstands carried papers from all over the world. Raymond wasn't looking for anything too far away.

"Give me one of each of the New York papers you carry."

The man had to go from bundle to bundle breaking the straps of the just delivered papers to get him what he wanted.

Back in his car, Raymond flipped through the newspapers. New York was a busy city. There was a lot going on there. He went page by page circling possibilities. On page 5 of the NY Post Raymond was pretty sure that he had found what he was looking for.

 **First National Bank Robbed. 3 Suspects Dead. 1 Still At Large.**

 _tbc_

A/N Obviously going au after last Thursday but if people are still interested tell me and I will keep posting.


	7. Chapter 7

A/N VICAP didn't start until 1985 so for the most part all you had to do was cross state lines to avoid law enforcement detecting a pattern. Also for these particular detectives think less Briscoe & Green and more Hitchcock & Scully the younger years.

 _Chapter 7_

After taking the train to New York, Raymond called the number on the business card from the station.

He was actually a bit surprised and perhaps even a bit disappointed to have the man from the night before show up only half an hour later. He actually blurted out. "You're here."

"Where else would I be?" Jimmy asked with a disarming grin.

Trying to cover, Raymond added. "I'm just a little surprised that you were available on such short notice."

"I don't usually work mornings. I usually do afternoons and evenings, but I figured since you called the service to request me specifically and you hang with that big tipper …"

He opened the door for Raymond. "I am yours for the day. Where to?"

Raymond watched him carefully for a reaction. "The police station."

He didn't get one.

 _OOO_

Raymond asked the two lead detectives. "Can you walk me through what happened?"

"Sure."

The two took turns telling Raymond.

"Two men wearing masks entered the bank. One took out the guard. The other headed over to the counter to one of the tellers. A pretty young thing. It was her first time. She froze. He started to get a little rough with her."

"One of the other tellers – a middle age gal – had to step in to help her."

"She followed the standard protocol. Gave them the money, tried to keep them calm and get them on their way quickly so no one got hurt."

Raymond just listened as they ping ponged back and forth telling the story.

"Only rather than just take the money and go, they grabbed her to take with them as insurance so nobody would try to stop them on the way out."

"Nobody did. They made it to their idling getaway car free and clear, but instead of leaving her there on the street they forced her into the van at gunpoint."

"They tied her hands with duct tape and started driving away, but according to the teller, they didn't get more than a block or two before the robbers started arguing about the split. One of them took a shot at one of the others."

"Pretty soon it turned into the gunfight at the O.K. Corral. In all the excitement, she managed to get a door open and made a run for it."

"We found the van right where she said it would be, but it was torched. The bodies of three of the four robbers were in it."

"Have you identified them?" Raymond asked.

The shorter detective shook his head. "No and they're pretty crispy so chances are we probably won't."

The other admitted. "Dental identifications can be a little iffy."

Raymond tried to reason it through. "Only two men went into the bank. A third, the driver, waited in the van - keeping the engine running. Where was the fourth robber during the robbery?"

The taller detective shrugged. "No one else at the bank left before the police arrived. When we canvased, we had two witnesses who saw the two masked men force the teller to get into the van at gunpoint. They didn't see anyone else get in."

That didn't make sense to Raymond. "So the fourth robber didn't come into the bank. Wasn't on the street as a lookout. The fourth robber was just waiting in the van with the driver the whole time?"

"Maybe ..." One of the detectives made the suggestion sound like they had just cracked the case. "... that's why they started arguing over the split!"

It didn't make sense. Unless … everyone in the bank during the robbery agreed that the two that came into the bank were definitely men. The get away driver was also described as a man.

Could the fourth robber have been Kate? Easily identifiable as a woman, had she stayed in the van?

Raymond asked. "This fourth man - the one that got away - how sure are you that he _was_ a man?"

"Well … that _is_ what our witness said."

Witness testimony was incredibly unreliable. A scared woman, people wearing masks, all that commotion … if Kate didn't talk maybe the bank teller just hadn't noticed, hadn't realized ...

"The teller from the bank. I'd like to talk to her."

"Ooo …" The detective made a puckered face like he was tasting something sour. "... that's going to be a little tough."

"What do you mean?" Raymond asked.

"She's gone."

"Gone where?"

The other detective drew his thumb across his throat.

"The teller is dead?" Raymond speculated. "She was shot in the crossfire?"

"Not exactly ..."

Raymond wasn't following. "What happened?"

"She was pretty quiet when she came running back to the bank. She told us what we told you about the argument, but beyond that, she wasn't too cooperative."

His partner agreed. "She refused to go to the station or the hospital. I'm pretty sure she was in shock, but she wouldn't even let the paramedics look at her. Insisted that she just wanted to go home. She wouldn't cop to it, but I got the idea from her behavior that one of them did her while they had her in the van."

Was that what went wrong, Raymond wondered? What caused Kate to turn on her own people?

"Yeah." The other detective agreed and added. "I think her blouse was torn because she had her black suit jacket buttoned up to her chin like she was one of the Amish _and_ she was holding the jacket closed so we couldn't see her blouse underneath."

 _Black suit jacket._

Raymond's eyes narrowed.

"When we took her back to her apartment you could tell she just wanted us to leave. She finally admitted that she was afraid if she talked they would come back to kill her."

"We told her that there was nothing to be worried about. That kind of thing only happened in the movies."

"We told her that three of the four were dead, but she was real worried about that fourth one."

"Eventually, we got her to agree to come down to the station in the morning to give a full statement. That would give us time to find a female officer. We thought if we got her one of those to talk to ..." He shrugged.

"Overnight, we had a patrol car drive by her apartment every fifteen minutes, but ..."

His partner finished for him. "In retrospect, we should of taken what she said a little more seriously."

"We sent a car to pick her up in the morning, but by then ... it was too late."

A skeptical Raymond asked. "You really think that the remaining robber came back for her?"

The two detectives scoffed. "Well it would be one hell of a coincidence if it was someone else."

Raymond asked. "Do you have any leads?"

The detectives both shrugged. "If she turns up, it will probably be in the East River."

"Hopefully, it will be soon or we might not even be able to identify her when she does. She kept that apartment so clean, we couldn't even find a single usable fingerprint of hers to put in the missing person's file."

Raymond tipped his head as a different interpretation of events fully solidified in his mind. "So your teller, the _only_ person who claims to have ever seen this mysterious fourth robber is gone?"

"Yup."

"Have you considered the idea that your teller disappeared by choice? _With_ the money from the bank robbery."

The taller one all but laughed as he dismissed the idea. "That tiny, little thing overpowered four men? I don't think so."

"Three, _not four,_ and she wouldn't have had to overpower them – just outwit them."

His partner shook his head. "I doubt she went anywhere voluntarily. Her clothes were all still hanging up in the closet in their dry cleaning bags. The only thing missing was the shower curtain. My guess – he used it to wrap her up in it. She was dead before they left the apartment."

Raymond wouldn't bet money on it. "How long had she been working there?"

"Close to a month."

"Do you have a photo?" Raymond asked.

"The bank provided us with one, but her glasses made a glare. You can't even see her face."

"You met her. Describe her."

"She was … pretty nondescript."

"Brown hair. Eyes. Average height."

"Glasses." The other detective added unhelpfully.

"How much did they take?" Raymond asked.

"The bank is still trying to figure that out, but it looks like between sixteen and twenty thousand."

Raymond had to admit that didn't make sense. Devoting a month to a bank robbery that yielded twenty grand? On the one hand, Raymond could see why she hadn't been interested in sharing with her three partners. But no … it just didn't make sense. He had to be missing something.

"So what's Naval Intelligence's interest in the case?"

"Classified." Raymond answered.

 _OOO_

Raymond's next stop was the bank. Courtesy of his driver for the day, he got there quickly.

A flash of his ID had the branch manager talking and showing him around.

As he was getting his tour of the crime scene, Raymond noticed one of the tellers kept glancing his way. A younger girl. Pretty in spite of the nasty looking bruise on the side of her face. Name tag Eleanor.

The manager's awkward words tore Raymond's attention away from her.

"As horrible as it was, it could have been far worse." Realizing how callous that sounded with one of his employees missing and essentially presumed dead, the bank manager explained. "What with the shipment coming Thursday from the BEP."

It took Raymond a moment to realize he was referring to the U.S. Bureau of Engraving and Printing.

"You're from the Naval Intelligence. Is that how they were going to move it? By boat? Is that why they sent you to investigate?"

Instead of answering Raymond asked his own question. "How much was in the shipment?" He tried to excuse his lack of knowledge. "We just get told weights, not values."

The manager waved a hand dismissively. "Not much cash. Maybe three or four million in small denominations. Mostly ones and fives. Old, worn bills being pulled from circulation. At twelve pounds a piece, most of the weight would have been in the plates being sent to be melted down."

"The printing plates?"

"They really don't tell you anything, do they?" The branch manager marveled. "But then I guess you are just the delivery boy."

"What denominations were the plates?"

"Fifties and one hundreds."

Now he was getting somewhere. The money already at the bank was never the real target. With all that paper and those plates, you could print a fortune.

 _That_ sounded like the kind of score you would invest a month of your life to secure.

"Did your employees know what was coming on Thursday? And that it would be Thursday?"

"They knew something was happening and soon – we had to clear out space in the vault, but they _shouldn't_ have known what or exactly when."

 _"Shouldn't have?"_ Raymond repeated.

"You know how these things work. It's not like I answer my own phone or open my own mail and I certainly don't spend the day hovering around the fax machine. You know how women are." He made a motion with his hands like a couple of birds chattering away at each other.

A score that big, if Kate screwed up on which day … that would go a long ways towards explaining why her people had turned on her and shot her.

"The missing teller, I'd like to see her application and her other paperwork."

"Wouldn't we all." At Raymond's raised eyebrow, the branch manager admitted. "We can't seem to find it."

Raymond gestured to the wall display that showed all the tellers' photographs. "Which is hers?"

"The police already took it. It … didn't come out well. We were planning to retake it. Really, we're usually much more well organized."

Raymond was irked at finding another dead end.

"If there's nothing else ..."

Raymond waved the bank manager off.

Instead of leaving straight away, Raymond lingered.

He didn't have to wait long before Eleanor approached him.

"Everyone is saying she's dead."

Raymond handed her his handkerchief. "I'm not so sure about that."

Taking it, she dabbed at her eyes to try to keep her mascara from running. "I can't stop thinking that it could have been me. That man, he came to my window."

"Could you describe her to me?"

"They wore masks. They were tall. A littler taller than you -"

Raymond interrupted her. "Not the robbers. The missing teller."

Eleanor gave him an odd look.

"No one can seem to find a photo of her and my next stop is to look at some possibilities – unidentified women at the hospital … and the morgue."

Tearfully, she was able to provide him a much better, much more useful description than the detectives had. A description that sounded an awful lot like Kate.

Kate seemed to have made quite the impression on the young woman.

Raymond didn't know much about Kate, but he did know two things – She had no scruples and she liked pretty things. "Were you two close?"

"No. She was pleasant enough, but she kept to herself. She only worked part time. Monday to Thursday. After work some of us would go out as a group sometimes. We invited her a few times, but she never came. She was always in a hurry to leave to go home at the end of the day."

Raymond asked her. "Eleanor, if I came back here in a few days and I brought a sketch artist with me, would you be willing to work with him?"

"Of course." She readily agreed. "If you think it would help."

 _OOO_

As he left the bank, his driver was waiting to open the door for him.

Raymond shook his head. Instead, leaning against the car, Raymond quizzed the driver some more.

"Had you ever met her before? Or was that the first time you picked her up?"

"Who? Oh that lady? No, she used the service a few times before. That was maybe the third or fourth time I'd driven her."

"Are you in the habit of driving fares from New York to D.C. often?"

The driver smiled disarmingly. "If they tip well enough, I'll take 'em to California. She said she wasn't feeling well. Didn't want to deal with all the lines and waiting around at the train station only to have to find another car at the other end. You saw her that night – she didn't look good."

Still with that stupid grin, the driver asked. "Say, what's it to you?"

Raymond wasn't smiling back. He persisted. "You didn't find it _at all_ odd that a woman would ask you to drive her from New York to D.C.?"

"What's this all about?"

Raymond whipped out his ID card and flashed it his way.

" _Naval Intelligence?"_ That wiped the smile off his face. "Am I in some kind of trouble?"

"Should you be?" Raymond asked.

That got him to stop asking questions and just answer them – at least for a little while.

"Where did you pick her up?"

"Near 34th St."

"Was she alone or was anyone with her?"

"Just her."

"Did you pick her up from the same place each time or different places? And what about drop offs? Always to the same place or did it vary?"

"I don't know. I think mostly it was to the train station. Usually on Fridays – or maybe it was Thursdays. I drive so many people. I'd really have to check my log book."

"Please do."

Raymond let him get his book, but instead of letting him open up the log book to get the information, Raymond reached for the book himself. "May I?"

"Sure. Help yourself."

Raymond frowned flipping through the logbook. It was filled out meticulously.

"Look, if she had something she shouldn't have had in that suitcase of hers – I had no idea."

Sometime a cigar was just a cigar and sometimes a car service was just a car service.

Raymond tore out a page to call later to confirm that the driver was just a driver.

"Hey, you can't do that!"

"Pick ups." Raymond reminded him. "Tell me about the pickups."

"Most of the other times, I think usually the pick ups were from outside this bank. Hey! Isn't this the one that got robbed yesterday? _Is that_ what this is about?"

Raymond didn't answer. "So you knew she worked here. It never struck you as odd that a bank _teller_ used a car service?"

"I didn't know she was a bank teller. I just assumed she was one of the higher ups. She was never much for conversation so I can't say the topic ever came up."

"You never picked anybody up with her. What about not with her, but maybe in the area? Anyone lingering around, maybe chatting her up when you got there to pick her up?"

Jimmy shook his head before venturing to ask. "You sure are asking a lot of questions. This woman must be in some kind of trouble?"

"Oh yes!" Raymond agreed. "When I get through with her … a world of trouble."

Again trying to open the door for him, Jimmy asked. "So where to next?"

Raymond shook his head. It was a pleasant enough day and he needed time to think. He'd rather walk. Pulling out his wallet, he paid the driver and tried to send him on his way.

"You sure? Cause I don't mind waiting. Aren't you going to need a ride back to the train station?"

"I'll call you … next time I'm in town." Raymond lied and he headed off on foot to his next stop.

 _OOO_

The purloined page from the log book, a payphone, a handful of dimes, a phone book and a story about wanting to ensure the utmost quality for their client's - _Would you please rate your ride experience with James? Did he arrive on time and in uniform? Was he polite and did he get you to your destination in a timely manner? Would you use him again in the future and recommend him to other business associates?_ \- had Jimmy checking out well enough.

Raymond might not have any hard evidence against Kate for this time, but he had a hunch that this wasn't her first rodeo. All he had to do was breakdown the facts as he knew them and look for the pattern.

 _OOO_

Only twenty minutes into trying to read the newspaper on the little microfiche reader at the New York Public Library and Raymond's head was already starting to pound.

Raymond's father had been an old fashioned man with old fashioned values and very set ideals and ideas on the way the world should work. While a plaster saint in some regards, he had always been sincere on the need for a strong _work_ ethic. He had died the month before last, but Raymond could remember more than once him saying 'work harder when you need to but work smarter when you can'.

Raymond wrote down the name of the newspaper's crime beat reporter. Requesting microfiche of papers from a dozen other major metropolitan areas, he did the same.

 _tbc_

A/N Mr. Kaplan will be back in the next chapter. Reviews greatly appreciated.


	8. Chapter 8

A/N Alerts don't seem to have been working the past few days so if you count on those make sure you read chapter 7 before proceeding.

 _Chapter 8_

After watching Annie, book in hand, get into her Mercedes and drive away, Raymond walked around to the back of the house. He didn't bother to ring the doorbell. Careless Annie had left the backdoor unlocked. He just let himself in.

Kate was in the living room propped up with pillows on the white couch. Wrapped in an oversized sweater, she was all tucked in with a blanket. Dents in the plush white carpeting showed where the small coffee table now in front of the couch had been relocated from. A glass of water and two pills had been set out for her in easy reach along with the telephone – it's cord running all the way across the room. There was even a pad with a phone number written on it and a little love note.

 _Call me if you need anything._

One of her hands was resting under the blanket by her side. The other was atop the blanket holding her still steaming mug of tea.

It was all so homey – it absolutely enraged him to see it.

He had come here to watch the house straight from work. He was still in his service dress blues. He should have made for an imposing sight, but glancing his way, she didn't look frightened or even startled.

Raymond spoke first. His tone couldn't be mistaken for friendly. "You must be feeling better. You moved downstairs. "

"Not really, but eventually Annie was going to notice your car parked down the street or one of our neighbors was going to grow suspicious and call it in. It's a very nice neighborhood. When I sent Annie out the past two days and you didn't show I realized I would need to leave the bedroom."

Raymond gritted his teeth, but couldn't put to words how very much uninterested he was in entering the bedroom those two shared.

Looking entirely indifferent about his being there, she asked him. "What do you want?"

"What I want is you gone from Annie's life."

"That's _not_ going to happen."

He threatened her. "I know about New York."

But she feigned ignorance. "What about New York?"

"A woman gets hired. Works just long enough to get down all the schedules and routines and then the bank gets robbed." Raymond held up a finger. "But not _just_ robbed. The robbers take a hostage with them – and wouldn't you know it! It's the new hire.

"New York went a little sideways though – didn't it? Because usually the robbers – now kidnappers – feel they didn't get enough in the robbery. Suddenly, they want a ransom too."

Her expression didn't change. She still wore that infuriatingly indifferent look.

He tried to rattle her. "You've done it before. I called around. I talked to crime beat reporters in San Francisco, San Diego, Des Moines, Albany, Tallahassee, Wichita. I'm sure there were others.

"The police in the different cities haven't put it together yet, but that's okay. I'm willing to help them connect the dots."

She didn't seem the least bit concerned. "Prove it. Find one piece of evidence. Find one fingerprint. Find one photograph. Find one witness who can reliably identify me. Find _one_ shred of evidence that I was involved."

"I met Eleanor."

Again she feigned ignorance. "Is that suppose to mean something? Because I'm not sure who that is."

"She's agreed to work with a sketch artist."

She still wore that same unruffled expression as she shrugged. "Okay."

She was right to be unperturbed. He had nothing on her. What he had could barely even be called circumstantial evidence. He needed her to say something to incriminate herself – which was why he had brought along a micro-cassette recorder.

"What I don't understand is what went different this time? I know you tried to change things up a little this time. Add a new twist when you found out about those plates coming in."

She didn't say anything. She just stared at him disinterestedly.

"But _something_ didn't go according to plan. Who screwed up, Kate? Was it you? Or was it your people?"

Still nothing. She took a sip of her tea like he was boring her.

It infuriated him even more.

"Do you want to hear what I _think_ happened?"

"Not really."

"I think you got greedy. I think you decided to kill your partners, avoid the split and wrap the whole thing up in a nice bow for the police. That's what _I_ think happened."

"Mr. Kaplan wouldn't do that. She's a classy lady."

Hearing the voice behind him, Raymond whirled around to find the driver from the other day and night. Raymond turned just in time to get hit with the pistol on the side of the head instead of the back of the head.

 _OOO_

Mr. Kaplan didn't look pleased to see him. "You're suppose to be in New York."

Jimmy explained. "Annie called me this morning. She said she was going out this afternoon. Asked me to stop in to keep you company. She said she'd leave the backdoor unlocked. And it's a good thing I'm here too."

"Is it?" Mr. Kaplan asked him.

Jimmy gestured at the man crumpled on the floor. "Mr. Kaplan, you _know_ what we have to do."

She sighed and looking resigned admitted. "I know what I have to do but not here. It's too much of a pain to get the blood out of Annie's white carpet. Take off his medals and insignias. The watch too."

Mr. Kaplan reprimanded him as he got a little overeager. " _Not_ the wedding band."

Jimmy put it back on him and patted him down. Finding a recorder in his pocket, Jimmy showed it to her. Mr. Kaplan didn't look surprised.

When she put down her tea and threw back the blanket, he saw the gun in her other hand. Putting it in her sweater pocket, she swung her legs off the couch one at a time. He rushed to help her to her feet. "Careful there, Mr. K. You still got all those stitches."

Taking the medals, the recorder and watch from him, she gave Jimmy further instructions. "Hog tie him and put him in the trunk of Cadillac."

Mr. Kaplan checked the time using the guy's watch and frowned. "We need to hurry. If I'm not back before Annie comes home from her book club, she'll wonder where I am and start to worry."

 _tbc_

A/N Reviews greatly appreciated.


	9. Chapter 9

A/N Author and story alerts haven't been working for a while now so if you depend on them make sure you read chapters 7 & 8 before proceeding.

 _Chapter 9_

There was a repetitive, almost rhythmic noise going on in the background. It was soothing, like the chugging of a train – until Raymond came to enough to realize the sound was of a shovel digging.

Waking up face down in the grass, Raymond turned his head to locate the source of the sound.

Jimmy, the driver, was already knee deep in the hole he was digging. Hands in the pockets of her sweater, Kate was leaned up against a tree keeping an eye on them both.

Between shovelfuls, Jimmy noticed him glaring. "Mr. Kaplan, he's awake."

"I saw." She looked and sounded completely disinterested.

"This deep enough, Mr. Kaplan?"

"You know it's not. Animals will dig that grave up in no time. You need to go at least five feet."

His hands and feet were tied to each other behind his back. Raymond rolled over onto his side and tried out his bonds. They were good and tight.

In retrospect, it had been a mistake to confront her alone. He had been cocky - so certain that he had it all figured out. Even more than that, his contempt towards her had blinded him to the danger.

Trying to make sense of it, Raymond accused Jimmy. "So _you_ were the fourth robber. Together, the two of you killed the rest of your crew."

Jimmy paused in his digging to answer. He looked at Raymond like Raymond was an idiot. "There _was_ no fourth robber. There were only three and I wasn't one of them. I was _suppose_ to be a robber, but someone else beat us to it."

Kate reprimanded him. "Jimmy, don't talk to him. Just dig. I want to get this over with."

Raymond turned to stare down Kate as best he could given his current predicament. "Are you telling me that it was just a coincidence? That it wasn't you and your people? That your bank got robbed and you just _happened_ to get kidnapped by somebody else?"

Raymond told her. "I'm not buying it."

She didn't answer. Jimmy did. "Doesn't matter what you believe." Jimmy pointed out. "Or at least it won't in just a few more feet."

Raymond scowled. He could have done without the reminder.

"Just the wrong place at the wrong time." Jimmy told him with a shrug. "Kind of like you being at Mr. Kaplan's house with Mr. Kaplan's missus when we got there. Bet you're regretting _that_ right about now."

"Oh you have no idea." Looking Kate's way, Raymond demanded to know. "What _are_ you going to tell Annie about this?"

That at last got a response from her. "I'm not going to bring up the topic and I'm going to respectfully ask that you not either."

Fuming, Raymond sized the two of them up. He wasn't concerned about her. Taking care of her wouldn't be a problem. She still looked already half dead.

As for Jimmy, the two of them were about the same height and weight. If he could get them to untie him, if he could get the drop on him ...

"Do you have another shovel? I could help dig."

Standing there as her friend dug, Kate said nothing. She just tipped her head and gave him a disappointed look.

Her buddy responded. "You're a funny fellow."

" _Anything_ to get this over with a little faster." Raymond offered.

Pausing, Jimmy asked him. "Do you think this is the first time me and Mr. Kaplan have done this?"

"Mr. Kaplan and _I_! And stop calling her that!" Raymond demanded from his position on the ground by his soon-to-be unmarked grave. "Why do you call her that?" Raymond demanded.

"Because that's what all her friends call her." Jimmy answered.

"Dig more. Talk less – or better yet, not at all." Mr. Kaplan ordered Jimmy.

She was right. A talking Jimmy was a slower digging Jimmy. Therefore, Raymond tried to keep Jimmy talking.

"So exactly how many of these have you done?"

"The shallow grave dug out in the woods in the middle of nowhere? Or bank jobs?" Jimmy asked.

Not exactly the most comforting of non-answers. Raymond frowned and asked. "Why bother putting her on the inside? Getting her a job at the bank, doesn't that add to the risk of being found out?"

"With Mr. Kaplan on the inside you don't have to be worried about the teller getting all nervous and doing something stupid. Mr. Kaplan is a pretty cool customer. She doesn't get nervous. She doesn't get jittery."

"Jimmy -"

"So I've noticed." Raymond commented wryly as he looked at the woman watching impassively as her partner dug his grave.

"Even better, she finds out the best days and times to hit. She scopes out which deposit boxes are worth the time, which ones aren't, and she always knows when the best shipments are coming in."

"- what did I just say about talking?"

Raymond was trying to buy time by slowing Jimmy down, but Kate kept reminding him to dig.

He just needed to get untied … and be given a few minutes to regain the feeling in his hands and feet. Then, he would have a chance.

"I have a wife! A family!"

That got a response from her. "And I don't?"

"My wife is pregnant!"

She seemed unmoved.

"Can I at least write a goodbye note to my wife and children?"

Kate declined his last request. "There's no point in writing something they're never going to read. Besides, I wouldn't trust you with a pen."

"That's a little cold, Mr. Kaplan, but then I have seen you do a few things with pens that I really don't ever need to see again."

While Raymond tried to come up with another angle, the digging continued unabated for a few minutes until Kate mused aloud. "I wouldn't know what to write. What would you write, Jimmy?"

He shrugged. "Same old crap. I love you. I'll miss you. You mean the world to me."

Pausing in his digging, leaning on the shovel, Jimmy commented. "That really surprises me, Mr. Kaplan. What about when you were in the van? When you got shot? What was going through your mind then?"

"Who's going to look after Annie."

Hearing her say the name so tenderly irked him to no end. Raymond chimed in. "I wondered what Annie and you could possibly have in common. Now I know – robbing things. You rob banks. She robs cradles."

That managed to get her partner in crime to climb out of the grave to kick him in the ribs a few times. Unphased by his insult, Kate ordered Jimmy. "Get back in there!"

If there was a weak link in the current two man – person – operation it was definitely Jimmy. As Jimmy had said, Kate was cold and calculating. Jimmy was the hot head. Raymond just needed to find a way to work the weak link in the chain – to get Jimmy to do something stupid.

"You sure do know how to pick _all_ the meat off of a carcass. Robbing the banks and then demanding a ransom for the teller you kidnapped. Add in stealing the printing plates so you could just start printing your own money and you would have had quite the little money making operation going - literally."

Jimmy was ignoring him and following orders.

"Chicago last year." Raymond threw out. "I bet that's when you got the idea to try to go after the plates. I know you pulled your robbery kidnapping stunt there and my contact from the _Tribune_ mentioned that that very same day a relay shipment arrived from the Treasury. It wasn't touched, but I bet just seeing that got your greedy little mind going."

As he continued digging, Jimmy seemed to be getting his second wind – much to Raymond's chagrin.

"But there's something I don't think you realized when you were planning New York ..."

Raymond explained the flaw in their plan. "... The government keeps a record of which plates are in which shipment. Even if you had succeeded in stealing those plates, the government would have just pulled all those bills from circulation making the plates essentially worthless. I mean sure you would be able to get away with passing off _some_ bills a few at a time if you were really careful, but nothing large scale."

He was getting nothing in the way of feedback from Kate, but Jimmy was an open book. Raymond could tell by his smirk that he had gotten something wrong again.

Jimmy had to prove that their plan was smarter than him. "Sure, you steal _all_ the plates, they know to pull the bills from circulation. But -"

 _"Jimmy!"_

" - if you steal just a few plates and you make sure to replace them with the ones you stole the time before ... then there is no problem."

"You didn't get the idea from seeing the plates in Chicago." Raymond realized. "You were in Chicago because you knew the plates would be there."

"Winner, winner, chicken dinner!" Jimmy broke it down for him. "They just count to confirm how many plates before they melt them down. They don't spend a whole lot of time inspecting them unless something is off with the count."

Jimmy leaned on his shovel. "Did _you_ know that the government tracks the frequency of the usage of the bills? You can't just reprint the same numbers indefinitely or the government will start to notice."

Raymond highly doubted that Jimmy was the one that knew that. He highly doubted that Jimmy did any of the thinking and planning.

Raymond said his thoughts aloud. "It was a sleight of hands. The bank robbery, the kidnapping, and the ransom in Chicago were all just a distraction. A little extra gravy, no doubt, but a misdirect. You hand over the supposedly empty bags for the teller to fill with money from the vault, but the bags weren't empty, were they? Kidnapping the teller got the plates out unnoticed."

"Jimmy, what part of stop talking is so hard for you to understand?"

"What's it matter, Mr. Kaplan? It's not like Mr. Naval Intelligence over there is going to be able to do anything with that information. He's going to be dead in twenty minutes."

"No, he's not. The hole is deep enough. Hand me the shovel and climb out."

"It's not five feet yet, Mr. Kaplan."

"I know, but it will do … for now."

The hole was up to his navel. Handing her the shovel, Jimmy stopped to try to catch his breath before starting to try to hoist himself up.

Turning to Raymond, Jimmy asked. "What is Naval Intelligence doing investigating bank robberies anyway?"

"I wasn't investigating the bank robberies, you halfwit. I'm Annie's -" Seeing Kate lift the shovel in a wide arc and start to bring it down, Raymond closed his eyes and winced in anticipation. "- son!"

He heard rather than felt the shovel make contact.

 _OOO_

His mother was sick and he wouldn't be seeing her ever again.

 _That_ was what his father had told him one summer day when Raymond was a boy.

After that, his father had refused to ever speak of her again.

His father never took him to visit his mother's grave. He never mentioned her again and the few times a young Raymond had ventured to ask questions about her, his father had shut him down before he could even get the question fully out.

A few months ago, when his father died, Raymond had expected to finally see where his mother, this indistinct distant memory, was buried.

When they arrived for his father's burial, Raymond couldn't understand why there wasn't a headstone for his first mother. It hadn't taken much cajoling to get the truth out of the woman he called Mom, the woman who had raised him as her own since he was a boy.

 _tbc_

A/N Thoughts? Feelings?


	10. Chapter 10

_Meet Cute_

 _Chapter 10_

Turning to Raymond, Jimmy asked. "What is Naval Intelligence doing investigating bank robberies anyway?"

"I wasn't investigating the bank robberies, you halfwit. I'm Annie's son!"

 _Annie's._

Realizing just whose grave he had just dug, reaching for his gun, Jimmy turned to face Mr. Kaplan, but he was already too late. She was already swinging the shovel he had just used to dig his own grave.

 _OOO_

Raymond watched her with suspicion as she approached him.

A little too calm and collected for someone who had just bashed another person's brains in, she informed him. "Bending to untie you isn't going to be an option."

She stuck the blade of the shovel into the ground next to him and stayed there leaning on it. He wasn't sure if she was leaning on the shovel to keep it steady for him as he rubbed his bindings against the edge of the shovel to fray them or if she was leaning against the shovel to keep herself upright.

Once he had the ropes frayed enough that he could just pull them apart, taking the shovel with her, she returned to leaning against her tree. Hands free, Raymond scrambled to get the rest of the ropes off of his feet.

Raymond rubbed his wrists to try to get rid of the numbness in his hands. He told her. "If you're expecting a thank you, you can forget it."

She had other expectations of him. "Climb down there. Get his gun and finish him off with it."

She must have reopened her wound when she swung the shovel. With her cardigan open, he could see the blood spreading on her blouse like a flower blossoming in time lapse photography.

He doubted she had another good swing in her, but Raymond wasn't taking any chances. He grabbed the shovel out of her hand and threw it in before climbing down.

Getting the gun, he stuffed it into the waistband of his pants and keeping his eyes on her, started to try to get himself back out.

He had one foot on solid ground when she pointed out his oversight. "The shovel."

Raymond grimaced and dropped back in.

"Shoot him."

Not trusting her enough to turn and thereby take his eyes off of her, he just pointed the gun behind him and fired off a round in the direction of the possibly, probably already dead man without taking aim.

"Double tap"

"He's dead."

She repeated herself. " _Double_ tap!"

"Are you _always_ this bossy?"

She frowned and from the pocket of her long sweater pulled out a hitherto unknown gun of her own. She fired at him twice.

As he was ducking down, Raymond got off a round in her direction.

It was only as the shovel glanced off of him fairly harmlessly that Raymond realized that she hadn't been aiming at him. This time Jimmy was really down for the count with his face now something that only a mother could love, but no mother should ever have to see.

She hadn't been firing at him. She had been firing at the guy standing behind him swinging the shovel _at him,_ but ...

The hell with it – Raymond didn't care.

Standing back up, he saw that he had managed to wing her with his earlier shot. He quickly took aim at her and pulled the trigger. He pulled the trigger again and again, but it just clicked again and again – empty.

"Oh come on! What kind of idiot doesn't keep his gun fully loaded?" Raymond balked ducking back down and blindly hurling the gun in her general direction.

When he finally peered back up over the top of the grave, holding out the hand that had been in her other pocket, she showed him the missing bullets.

"Get out of there and start filling in the hole."

 _OOO_

Everything looked the same here. Trees, trees, and more trees.

Pretending to take a break from filling in the hole, Raymond leaned against a tree and used the shovel to notch the tree closest to the body.

He eyed the densely populated forest. If he zigzagged ...

She knew what he was thinking. "You can try it, but I wouldn't recommend it."

Raymond thought of Jimmy and the two very closely spaced together shots Kate had put into him.

She appeared to be thinking along different lines. "Pick the right direction and you can be back to the car in five minutes and the main road in another ten. Pick the wrong direction and you could be walking for miles and miles. I know the right direction."

"Of course you do." Raymond looked back at her with a glare.

She had one hand pressed against her side trying to stem the blood loss. The other hand held the gun she kept pointed in his direction.

He told her. "Anyone with a gun that size is overcompensating for a lack of something."

She offered an alternative suggestion. "Or they stole it from someone with _much_ larger hands."

 _OOO_

Back at the car, she put the tail of her blouse between her teeth to hold it up and out of the way as she stitched herself back up with one hand and kept the gun in the other trained on him. He should have offered to help her but he didn't and she didn't ask. Instead, he derived some odd sense of satisfaction watching her struggle.

"That's going to leave a nice scar." He pointed out gleefully.

She didn't say anything.

The arm wound she just wrapped before handing him the first aid kit to put back in the glove box.

"I could drive." Raymond offered. "That would leave you both hands to use to threaten me with your gun instead of one hand to hold the gun and the other hand to hold the wheel, work the shift and the blinker."

Ignoring his offer, she started the car.

As he reached to buckle his seat belt, she stopped him. "No seat belt for you."

"What if we get into an accident?"

She assured him. "We won't as long as you don't try to grab the wheel to cause one so you can get the gun."

"I'm a little unclear here." Raymond admitted. "You didn't kill me in the woods, but you are pointing a gun at me."

"You did just try to kill me in the woods so you'll forgive me if I'm a bit cautious until we get back to civilization."

Once back in civilization, she stopped in front of a bakery.

"What are we doing here? Meeting more of your friends here for you to kill?"

"We shouldn't return to the house empty handed."

Raymond spread his hands in a what gives motion.

"Annie will be home by now. She's going to wonder where we were. Why we left the house. As I mentioned earlier, I don't really see a need to mention any of this to her."

To Raymond's look of confusion, she added. "She knows about the bank robberies and the fake kidnappings. She doesn't know about some of the side projects."

"Are you coming in?"

"No."

"So … what's to stop me from getting out of the car and just walking away?"

"From walking away? Nothing. From driving away …"

Patting his pockets to check for his keys, he realized the watch his wife had given him for his birthday had gone missing as well. He'd never liked the watch. "You little pickpocket!"

She offered nothing in return.

"What am I suppose to get?"

"I don't care."

Getting back into the car with the white bakery box tied up with baker's twine, he found his car keys waiting for him in the empty ashtray.

"Cannolis." He informed her. "Somehow it seemed appropriate."

She just gave him her patented glare and started to drive.

As they approached the house, Raymond noticed several extra cars were parked in the driveway. More spilled out into the street in front of the house. A sandy haired man was out on the front steps with a cigarette.

Kate slowed, but she didn't stop.

As she kept going Raymond pointed out. "Maybe you _really_ shouldn't be driving. That was your house."

She didn't respond. She just turned the corner, went down a few houses, and put the car in park.

A minute later the cigarette smoking man came into sight. Approaching on foot, he glanced behind before rounding the corner.

"How bad is it?" Kate asked him as he leaned in her open car window.

He reached through and offered his hand to Raymond. "I'm Sam. I'm guessing you must be Raymond. You're shorter than I thought you would be."

 _"I'm sitting down."_ Raymond protested.

Sam shrugged. To Kate he added. "Pretty bad. She tried calling the house from her book club to check on you. You didn't answer. So she came home early. You weren't here. Jimmy wasn't picking up. She couldn't get a hold of him. Annie panicked. She called everyone and everywhere she could think of."

Sam appeared to have saved the best for last. "Kate, she was worried. _Really worried._ She called Dom. She told him everything."

"Everything?"

 _"Everything."_

Closing her eyes, Kate leaned her head back with a sigh.

 _tbc_


	11. Chapter 11

_Meet Cute_

 _Chapter 11_

"Pop the trunk. I'll get you a new shirt."

As Sam went to the back of the car to retrieve a fresh blouse for Kate, Raymond thought it time he disappeared. "Well, this is where I leave you."

Coming back, Sam warned him. "Dom found your car down the street. Running won't look good for you. Won't _feel_ good for you either. You need to make an appearance unless you want him making a personal appearance at the address listed on your registration.

Raymond didn't know who Dom was, but he could already tell that he did not want that.

Sam added. "You also need new glass for your passenger side window.

Raymond looked away as Sam helped Kate out of her bloodied top.

"This is sad. Getting to undressing you the past couple of days is the most action I've had in weeks."

"That is very sad, Sam. Now hurry up before the neighbors notice and _careful_ of the arm."

"What happened to the arm?"

"Nothing." Was her curt reply.

"I thought you said he wasn't going to be a problem?"

"No, I said I would handle it." Kate corrected him.

"Is he handled?" Sam asked.

"You two know that I can hear you." Raymond pointed out.

Sam let the matter drop without getting an answer.

He hopped in the back and they circled the block- this time stopping in front of her house.

In order to avoid the wound on her side, Sam had to put his hand almost inappropriately high as he helped her out of the car.

The two of them were still trying to figure out how best to get her into the house - Sam couldn't pull her uninjured arm across his shoulder without aggravating the wound in her side and he couldn't pull her injured arm across his shoulder - when the front door slammed open.

"Sam, it's fine. I can walk - it's just slow going."

She wasn't kidding. Back in the woods, her five minutes to the car had been closer to fifteen.

"Sam, what the hell are you doing? She doesn't even weigh a hundred pounds! Just pick her up and carry her!"

By the slight slump of defeat in Kate's shoulders at the sound of his voice, Raymond gathered that this was Dom. "He doesn't need to carry me. I have two feet. I can walk just fine."

She picked up though when a very upset looking Annie came charging out right after him.

"Where have you been? I've been worried sick!?"

Annie froze a short distance away when she saw Raymond standing there as well.

Kate did the talking as he just stood there. "Raymond stopped by. We went for a little drive. Had a little chat. Stopped for cannolis. We brought you back some."

Looking back and forth between the two of them – Kate in a different blouse and looking quite a bit worse for wear than she had when Annie had left the house and a disheveled Raymond in his grass and dirt stained uniform holding the pastry box – Annie looked like she didn't quite know what to say.

Dom's ... entourage had come out of the house right after Annie. If Raymond didn't already have a bad feeling about Dom, seeing a couple of what could only be described as goons follow after him would have done it.

Another fellow came out. He was short, wearing glasses and getting a little towards the pudgy side. By the nod he got from Kate, Raymond got the idea he wasn't one of Dom's. After Kate's head tip towards one of the cars, he approached Annie, put a hand on her arm, said a few words to her and a minute later there was one less car in front of the house.

"Anastasia said you got hurt." Neither Sam nor Kate had bothered to tuck in her new shirt. Invading her personal space, Dom just reached over and started to help himself by lifting the side of her blouse. His first choice was the wrong side.

Kate slapped away his hand. " _What_ do you think you're doing?"

The look on his face, he took it like a kid getting smacked for trying to dip his finger in the cake batter. "I want to see."

"It's just a scratch."

"So let me see."

"No." She batted his hands away as he tried again.

That got Annie moving again. Glaring at her brother, she went to what should have been Kate's safe side and put her arm around her to give Kate something to lean on. Kate winced, but didn't rat him out.

Annie called to him. "Red, do come inside."

Eying his car down the street, Raymond had other ideas, but Sam was in his ear. He didn't sound threatening, just cautioning. "Don't even think about it. Bring the cannolis in and then make your excuses."

Seeing the way Annie's brother was looking at him, Raymond nodded. With a frown, he trailed after them, listening in on their conversation.

"That Jimmy's car outside. I asked him to stop by to check in on you while I was out. Did he?"

Kate nodded.

"His car's here. Where is he?" Annie asked.

"We talked. He's spooked. He's going to take off for a bit. Lay low."

"And he left his car here?"

"He left it for Sam to get rid of it."

Raymond still found it hard to believe that the two of them were still together. Annie might have close to twenty years on her, but despite the age gap, he would still say Annie got the short end of the stick.

But maybe not.

Maybe that was just his memory playing tricks on him.

The other night, he couldn't get over how much Annie looked just like he remembered her.

Here now in the cold light of day, he realized that wasn't exactly true. He might have recalled a few of what could have politely been called crow's feet, but Annie had full blown wrinkles now and her hair might still be that rich red that Raymond had never forgotten, but the reality was that these days it had to be coming out of a bottle.

Raymond wasn't sure what he was doing here anymore. Why he had ever come looking for Annie to begin with. She had made her choice a very long time ago.

He decided he would drop off the pastries and be gone – for good.

Once inside, Annie focused on Kate. The higher functioning part of his brain understood it – you take care of the wounded party first, but the lizard part of his brain would never understand any of this.

As Annie rushed to fuss over Kate and get her settled back on the couch, Raymond got to meet Dom … and get fussed over by him.

"You're new. I don't remember seeing you before."

Dom straightened Raymond's tie and lapels for him before running his hands down his shoulders. "That's a nice uniform you've got there, but it's the little details that really sell it or give it away. I'm surprised Katya let you out of the house like that. You're missing all the little doodads. No Naval officer would wear that uniform without their brass."

Raymond tried to not give in to his irritation as he realized his watch and car keys weren't the only things the little murdering pickpocket had stolen.

"Thanks. I'll keep that in mind." Raymond started to walk away.

Dom wasn't having it. "I'm not done talking to you. When Katya gets somebody new I like to introduce myself. Explain a few things."

"That's really not necessary." Raymond started to tell him that he wouldn't be sticking around, but Dom used one of his oversized paws to palm Raymond's face like he was a cantaloupe and slammed the back of his head into the wall.

"Ow!" Raymond stated.

"I like to make sure the new guy understands the way things stand."

Dom grabbed him by the chin so firmly that Raymond could feel the older, larger man's fingernails digging into his skin as Dom turned his head for him forcing him to look Annie's way. He would be lucky to have just scratches and not bruising tomorrow. " _That_ is my sister."

Facing the other way, Annie was missing the show. Kate wasn't.

"And _that -_ " Dom redirected Raymond's head to be looking at Kate. "- belongs to my sister. You want to go somewhere with her, you _ask_ my sister's permission first and you damn well better bring her back to my sister in the same condition she left in or better!"

Dom bounced the back of his head against the wall again before releasing him and asking. "Are we clear?"

Before Raymond could answer, Annie was coming over. "Dom, I see you met Red … my son."

Dom didn't do a double take. He didn't apologize. He didn't seem to care. He was already taking his … _charm_ elsewhere. He crossed the room to confront Kate.

"Red, I'm glad you -"

Annie tried to say something to him, but Raymond was far more interested in listening in on Kate and Dom's conversation which wasn't too hard to do given Dom's boisterous voice.

" _And you!_ Enough of this chicken scratch. You're coming to work for me!"

Even if she hadn't already been browbeaten into a reclining position by Annie, he still would have towered over her.

"Red, I -"

She should have been intimidated. Anyone with half a lick of sense would have been. "Thanks, but no thanks."

Soon Annie gave up on trying to talk to him and joined him in focusing in on the interaction between Kate and Dom.

Throwing back the blanket Annie had put over her, Kate stood.

Dom put his hands on her shoulders. "I don't like the idea of you out on the streets, Katya. I have never liked it. Annie doesn't like it either. This time you got hurt."

With him up close, she had to crane her neck back to look him in the eye. "It was nothing."

"It wasn't nothing. You got shot."

"It was just a scratch."

"Katya, a man likes to provide for his family. He likes to know they're safe. Taken care of."

"I can provide for my own family."

"I know you can and you do, but you're my family, Katya. You're -"

Kate interrupted him. "- I am not coming to work for you, Dom. I already have my next job lined up, so drop it."

"Robbing banks? All this trouble for what? Ten, maybe twenty grand?"

Trying to defend Kate, Annie interjected. "Kate does just fine on her own, Dominic. I would hardly call clearing over a quarter of a million dollars chicken scratch."

"Each bank?" Dom was shocked. Raymond would have been too if he hadn't had the conversation with the bank manager in New York.

Crossing her arms, Annie corrected him smugly. " _Each_ person _each_ bank."

Raymond caught the look of exasperation as it ever so briefly flashed across Kate's face.

Sure enough, that got Dom's interest. "How the hell are you clearing over a million dollars a hit?"

But only momentarily. "I don't care how much money you're pulling in. It's not worth it if you're going to get hurt."

Having had enough, Kate started to walk away.

"I'm not done talking to you."

They were some of the same words Raymond had gotten, but the tone was much nicer … and there was no face grabbing. Raymond would put money on those being the large hands from which Kate had stolen her almost comically oversized gun.

"Maybe so, but I am done listening."

There might be no face grabbing, but to keep her from leaving, he did grab on to her arm … right where Raymond had just grazed her with a bullet.

Raymond wasn't sure how hard he was gripping or if he was really gripping at all, but it wouldn't take much.

With a gasp, Kate's head lolled and she started to sink to the floor.

"Katya?" Dom scooped her up off her feet like she weighed no more than a doll.

"Mr. Kaplan!" Annie was rushing across the room to her side. "What did you do to her!?"

Dom laid her back on the couch.

Not actually having fainted so much as just swooned, Kate was quick to come around – just in time to catch Dom peaking at her side under her blouse.

A bit of blood had already started to seep through the bandage.

Sounding exasperated, Kate called out. "Sam!"

"I'm on it." Sam moved behind Annie and caught her under the arms as _she_ started to collapse.

Baffled, Raymond asked. "What just happened? Did she just faint?"

Sam shrugged. "Annie doesn't do well with the sight of blood."

Dom just looked at his sister and shook his head. "She's a real piece of work, that one."

Turning back to Kate, he told her. "I want you looked at by a real doctor. I'm getting my guy."

"Which is it? Are you getting your guy or a real doctor?"

"I'm calling him now."

"Not from my phone you're not. I don't want my phone associated with you or one of your people."

"Well that's too bad, Katya. Because you don't look to be in any condition to stop me."

Dom tapped her on the nose affectionately before turning his back on her and crossing over to the phone which had since Raymond's last visit been returned to it's original location on the table across the room. Picking up the receiver, he leaned over and began dialing.

If he hadn't been so quick to turn his back on her, he would have caught the change in her expression. Raymond may not have been able to get a rise out of her earlier in the forest, but Annie's brother certainly had succeeded.

Raymond might have been the new guy, but even he could have predicted that the nose bop wouldn't be a good idea.

Before he could finish dialing, Kate was up and pulling the phone cord out of the wall … and wrapping it around his neck.

Raymond watched almost bemused wondering what this tiny slip of a woman could possibly hope to accomplish against the behemoth of a man.

As Dominic stood up to his full height, Kate went up with him and holding on to the cord with both hands like a rock climber repelling down a wall used her dead weight to strangle him.

Dom had one hand busy holding the cord to try to keep her from cutting off his air supply completely while with the other hand he tried unsuccessfully to reach behind himself to grab at her.

Raymond didn't understand why he didn't just ram her into a wall or flip her over his back or …

"Why have goons if they're not going to do anything to protect you?"

Goon One with the help of Goon Two explained it for him. "Not allowed to hit girls."

" _Especially_ not those two girls."

He looked to Sam.

"It's better to stay out of it unless she tells you otherwise."

The only reason Kate didn't manage to go 2-0 for the day wasn't that Annie came back round and started shrieking at _him_ not to hurt _her,_ but that Dom finally had enough sense to go back to the little table with the phone and put her on it so she couldn't use her dead weight against him.

Her point made, Kate let go.

Pulling the phone cord off from around his neck and catching his breath, Dom eyed Kate. She eyed him right back. He pointed a finger her way like he was going to say something but still trying to catch his breath he couldn't seem to come up with anything.

Dom sent Goon One on his way. "No phones. Go and pick up the doctor personally."

Kate balked. "He's a veterinarian."

" _Here._ He was a doctor in South America."

Raymond might have stuck around for round two, but Annie interceded. "Mr. Kaplan, please! Just let him look you over." Annie started to wring her hands. "I knew I should have had Sam hold off on killing that woman doctor from the other night until we were sure you were better."

Raymond's eyebrows went up, but he didn't correct Annie.

Annie kept pleading with Kate. "Just let Dominic's doctor look you over. I'll be right here. Sam is here. Dom is here. Nothing is going to happen."

Having had his fill, Raymond announced his departure. "I have to thank you all for a most enchanting afternoon, but I really must be going now."

As he headed to the door, far too little, far too late, Annie came rushing over. "When will I see you again?"

"How about never? Does never work for you? Because I have to tell you, never is looking pretty good to me right about now."

 _tbc_

A/N If you've made it this far kindly leave a note. Down to just a couple more chapters.


	12. Chapter 12

_Meet Cute_

 _Chapter 12_

"This is suppose to be a secure area." Raymond pointed out as he got into his car to leave work and found Kate in it.

"Well it isn't."

"You're like a bad penny. Or that evil doll in The Twilight Zone episode. The one they kept throwing out, but it kept showing back up."

"Annie is upset. You haven't been returning her calls."

"And I'm not going to."

"She wants to have a relationship with you."

"That's too damn bad because I don't want to have a relationship with her."

Kate asked him. "Have I somehow given you the impression that I care what you want?"

It was clearly a rhetorical question because she continued. "Here is how this is going to work. Once a week, you are going to have dinner with -"

Raymond interrupted her. "- I will _never_ sit at a table and break bread with you."

"I'm not asking you to. We'll pick a night." She threw one out. "Thursday. Thursdays, you can come to the house and have dinner with Annie. I can disappear for -"

"- ever?" Raymond suggested.

"- for the evening."

"No." Raymond refused.

"In exchange, every week I will give you back one of the pins or medals I took off your uniform."

"I said _no._ "

"If you don't, every week I will call the police anonymously to report where I have left one of them – _starting_ with the one I told Jimmy to keep in his pocket."

Raymond stared at her agog. "You are trying to _blackmail_ me into having a relationship with Annie?"

"Yes." She answered matter-of-factly.

"You _can't_ do that! _People_ don't do that! _My God, what is wrong with you!?_ "

She ignored his protests. "Thursday. Six o'clock. If you like, bring your wife and daughter. They'll make a nice buffer."

"Jennifer has no connection to Annie. She's from Naomi's first marriage."

Kate seemed indifferent. "Annie won't care. Annie likes children."

"Any but her own apparently."

"Six o'clock. Thursday." Kate reminded him before getting out of the car.

After she left, Raymond just sat there stunned for several minutes.

Then, turning on the engine, Raymond left to do what he should have done days ago.

 _OOO_

Raymond walked into the police station. He went straight to the Desk Sergeant. "Hello Sergeant ..." He read the name tag. " … Murphy. I would like to report a murder."

 _tbc_

A/N Reviews are greatly appreciated.


	13. Chapter 13

_Meet Cute_

 _Chapter 13_

Raymond didn't care to be anonymous. He accompanied the police to pick up Kate. He stood front and center with a smug expression as the chief of police himself rang Kate's doorbell.

"Afternoon Kate."

Raymond should have realized that things weren't going to go his way when the chief greeted Kate by her first name.

Kate addressed him before responding to the chief. "Raymond, Annie is going to be _so_ disappointed she missed you. She just stepped out to the store. If you'd like to come in and wait …

"Chief, don't tell me my check for the policeman's dinner bounced?"

He smiled and shook his head. "No ma'am, nothing like that. Listen, I hate to drag you out like this, but we got a little problem. This fellow here's been telling some _pretty_ tall tales about you."

"Oh?" Kate inquired. "Do tell."

"Why don't you grab your coat and bag. We can all take a little ride and get things sorted out."

"Of course, Chief. Let me just leave Annie a note so she doesn't worry."

 _OOO_

Raymond was unconscious on the first trip there, but he had paid very careful attention on the way back.

He was able to get them to the forest and to the general vicinity of where Jimmy was buried ... but once they got there, it was like the story of the leprechaun who was captured and made to reveal his pot of gold.

Only instead of a ribbon tied around every tree, there was a notch on every tree.

"Dogs!" Raymond came up with an alternative plan. "Get some of those dogs out here. The ones that can sniff out dead bodies."

 _OOO_

It didn't take long for the dog to hit upon a scent. Watching the dog sit – signifying he had found something Raymond smugly looked Kate's way.

She wore an expression of alarm, but only as long as the chief looked her way. As soon as he turned away, she was back to her thin lipped look of disinterest.

"All right boys, let's get some shovels and start digging."

OOO

Once the body was uncovered, it wasn't Kate that everyone was looking at with suspicion.

The chief asked him. "Son, did you find that cat already dead on the side of the road or did you kill it?"

"What? Me?"

"You were the one that knew it was going to be here. Stands to reason, you put it there."

"No! It wasn't me!" Raymond pointed his finger at Kate. "She did it! She must have moved the body or had him moved and put that there instead! There was a dead body here! A dead _human_ body! That's what the dog reacted to!"

Scrambling to regain control of the situation, Raymond latched on to something she couldn't have tampered with so easily. "She has a fresh bullet wound on her side and another on her arm."

The chief looked dubious, but he did turn to Kate. "We can clear this up right now if you don't mind. You either have one or you don't."

Raymond waited for her to ask to see a warrant, but she surprised him. She readily lifted the side of her blouse and pulled back the bandage to show her still not entirely healed wound.

Raymond cried out triumphantly. "See! I told you! She was shot."

Only, she spun it a different way. "I had my appendix out last week."

The chief called over one of his men. "Kenny, come here. Show me your appendix scar."

He compared the two. "Looks like an appendectomy scar to me."

Raymond shook his head and grimaced. "You really are something, aren't you?"

After a moment's thought he threw out. "What about her arm? Look at her arm! _I_ shot her in the arm!"

Kate had an explanation for that too. "I burnt my arm with the barrel of a curling iron. I can show it to you if you want."

The chief didn't even bother to ask. "I think you've indulged us enough tonight, Kate."

"Her hair's _not_ curled!" Raymond pointed out.

"Burning myself put me off the idea. Now it's just sitting in the closet. Would you like to come back to the house and see it?"

"Yes! Yes, I would." Raymond declared despite realizing that she most likely had covered all her bases and actually did get one to sit in her closet.

"That won't be necessary, Kate."

He turned on Raymond. "Son, I've already got you for filing a false police report and you just confessed to shooting her. If I were you, I wouldn't be pushing to find evidence to dispute her claim of it being a curling iron burn because in _this_ jurisdiction shooting _her_ would be considered a felony with special circumstances."

Wasn't special circumstances a condition reserved for murders with aggravating conditions such as happening during the commission of another felony? Raymond asked. "What special circumstances?"

"I like Kate. You, I don't like."

This was not playing out at all how Raymond had envisioned.

"Now turn around and put your hands behind your back."

"Me? You're arresting _me?_ " _Definitely_ not how he had envisioned it.

Kate stepped in. "Chief, I'd really like to apologize for Raymond's behavior. For his dragging you and your men out here. But is that really necessary? I think I know what's going on here. Raymond is Annie's son and ... " Kate hesitated before admitting. "... Annie and I, we aren't _just_ roommates."

The police chief feigned shock. "You mean you two crazy kids don't just live together to help make ends meet?"

Kate tilted her head. "No ..."

The chief smiled indulgently. "Yeah, that story might have held water at some point, but not once you moved into a four bedroom house in Dupont Circle."

Kate asked. "Is there a way we can keep this off his record?"

The chief sighed. "Here's my worry, Kate. That dead cat didn't just happen to be there. He had to have put it there. Now, I don't know, maybe he just found it already like that run over on the side of the road and moved it here, but … maybe he didn't. I just got back from a seminar put on by the FBI. People who do those kinds of things to animals … well let's just say that animals are where they start. That's not where things end."

Kate put on a concerned facade.

"Did he wet the bed as a child? Like to play with matches?"

"Don't all children?" Kate asked.

The chief shook his head. "The boy is troubled. He needs help."

"We'll get him help – I promise - but I'd like to do it privately."

The chief hesitated, but finally relented. "I won't bring him in – _this time_ – but you let me have a talk with him."

Kate nodded. "Thank you, Chief."

"Kenny, take Miss Kate back home for me. The rest of you, pack it in."

Before taking off with Kenny, Kate called out to him. "Don't forget, Raymond. Thursday. Six o'clock. Be sure to call Annie to confirm."

Raymond just bit his lip and shook his head with a grimace.

Once the others had cleared out, the chief came back to stand by Raymond. "Look son, I know what's going on here. I used to have a funny uncle myself. I know how it is, but I've also known Kate for years. She's good people."

He put a sympathetic hand on Raymond's shoulder. "Your mom's a carpet muncher. It's rough, but you have to accept it. You can't be doing this - making up these crazy stories and calling us out here, wasting our time. You try it again and you and me, we're going to have a problem. You follow what I'm saying?"

Still with that not at all amused grin, Raymond nodded.

 _tbc_

A/N Reviews are greatly appreciated.


	14. Chapter 14

_Meet Cute_

 _Chapter 14_

"I need to see Eleanor."

The bank teller smiled blandly. "Oh I'm sorry. Eleanor doesn't work here anymore. But I would be happy to help you."

"What do you mean Eleanor doesn't work here anymore? What happened to Eleanor? Is she dead?"

"No!" The woman looked horrified. "Nothing like that! She won the lottery."

"Excuse me?"

"Her grandmother sent her a card in the mail. It had one of those scratch off lottery cards in it. Eleanor won. She left a few days ago for a cruise."

"When will she be back?"

"Oh, I have no idea when or even if."

When Raymond just stood there not moving, the teller kept talking.

"Weird thing is I didn't even know Eleanor had a grandmother. I was sure she told me once that all her grandparents had passed."

 _OOO_

She was in his car again.

This time he was on the lookout. He noticed her before he made it to the car.

He thought about going back in, getting security, and having her arrested for trespassing on government property, but he couldn't shake the nagging suspicion that if he tried that, he would come back to find her gone and Jimmy waiting in his car instead.

Raymond got into the car.

First things first. Raymond asked. "Did you kill that cat?"

"No. I wasn't even there. I was still home recuperating which is where I should still be. Sam, who you met, and another friend -"

Raymond interrupted her to ask. "- Short and pudgy with glasses?"

She ignored the interruption. " - drove around for hours looking for something, anything on the side of the road to use as an excuse for why the dogs would get a false positive. For future reference, it might interest you to know that the dogs are trained to only react to decomposing _human_ bodies, but most people don't actually know that."

"I'm really hoping to _not_ have to reference that fact in the future." Raymond informed her before asking. "Do you still have your appendix or did you really voluntarily have one of your organs removed to set up a cover story?"

She didn't answer. Instead, she threatened him again. "I came to warn you. If you don't show up tomorrow, I will be calling the police to report Jimmy missing."

She was bluffing and they both knew it. "Go ahead. Anything you try to tell them, it's your word against mine."

"Even if it was, after you cried wolf, I don't think that would go your way … but it's not. Your fingerprints are all over the gun you used to kill Jimmy. Remember? The one that you threw at me."

He had forgotten all about the gun. "That _I_ used to kill Jimmy?"

Why had he been so stupid as to forget about the gun?

"And Jimmy's fingerprints are all over your house, your car, and your wife's car."

Raymond balked. He couldn't speak for certain about what had gone on with his car while he was unconscious, but ... "Jimmy was never in my house or my wife's car!"

Her expression was impassive as she looked him right in the eye. "Jimmy may not have been, but that doesn't mean his hands haven't been."

Raymond's mouth dropped open. "My God! What is wrong with you?" Raymond asked.

A frightening truth suddenly became clear to Raymond. "You're not right in the head. That's why you're still with Annie after all these years."

She should have been offended, but she just looked at him determinedly. "Six o'clock. Thursday. Say it back to me."

Refusing, he shook his head. "I'm not going to do it."

His insults might not be getting to her, but it seemed his continued refusal to cooperate was beginning to. "I killed Jimmy instead of letting Jimmy kill you because I thought you being dead would make Annie sad. But now, you being alive and not returning her calls is making Annie sad. It's making me wonder if I made the right choice."

She said it again. "Six o'clock. Thursday."

 _"No!"_

"Fine." Was her clipped reply before reaching for the door handle.

"Wait! Wait!" Suspicious at her sudden capitulation, he tried to stop her. "Fine?" That he said back to her.

Turning back to look at him, she offered some advice. "Don't waste your time trying to wipe down the house and cars. _You_ will never get all the prints. Your time would be better spent working on a cover story for why the prints are there."

Raymond didn't understand. "What exactly is your plan here? Get me arrested?" Raymond asked. "Do you really think _you_ getting _me_ arrested is going to make me more likely to want to see Annie?"

"I do."

"Exactly how do you think _that_ is going to work?"

"I've never been to prison, but I have heard it is a very lonely and monotonous place. I suspect after a few months just to break up the day, you'll be happy to see anyone who is willing to visit you … but _especially_ Annie. I think you'll be very eager to see her - _desperate_ even. After all, she's the only one who might be able to convince me to help find a way to exonerate you."

Raymond was speechless. There simply did not exist, the words to express what he was feeling.

Glancing at her watch, she opened the car door and left.

This time, he had the wherewithal to watch her. She got out of the car and walked to a section of the barbed wire topped chain link fence.

The sandy haired fellow from the other day was waiting with a car. As she approached, he pulled at the section of panel where it had been snipped to make it easier for her to get back through without having to bend at the middle and irritate her injury.

Seeing Raymond watching him, Sam gave an awkward half wave.

Raymond did not wave back.

 _tbc_

A/N If you are reading kindly leave a few words.


	15. Chapter 15

_Meet Cute_

 _Chapter 15_

Sam hadn't looked surprised to see Raymond when he opened the door beer in hand – just a little wary. Still, he invited him in.

"You look like you could use a beer." Sam headed to the kitchen.

Considering who he was friends with, when Sam came back from the kitchen, Raymond declined the bottle of beer in Sam's outstretched hand and instead took the one Sam had been working on when Raymond arrived.

"I assume you know what's going on?"

Having the decency to cringe a little, Sam nodded.

Raymond said it anyway. "She's trying to blackmail me into having a relationship with Annie."

"Red, have you considered the idea that Mr. Kaplan -"

Raymond's face contorted and he raised his voice. "- Don't call her that!"

"- is doing this because she feels partially responsible for what happened?"

" _She should!"_

"Raymond, I don't know if you have the full story of what happened when you were a kid."

"I don't care about the whole story. I know _enough_ of the story – I know _my_ side of the story. Annie abandoned me to run off with _her_."

Sam tried to explain it to him. "That's _not_ what happened."

"That _is_ what happened." Raymond insisted. " _I_ was there. _I_ should know. _You_ weren't there. _You_ don't get a say in what happened."

Before dropping it, Sam said. "That's not fair and I think _you_ know it."

Keeping his pinched expression, Raymond refused to concede any such thing.

Sam kept talking. "Something _I_ know … Kate's crazy about Annie. She'll do anything to make her happy."

Raymond corrected him. "Kate's crazy. Full stop. Exclamation point. Exclamation point. Exclamation point."

Raymond had an idea. "What's to stop me from telling Annie that Kate's trying to blackmail me into spending time with her?"

Looking disappointed, Sam rubbed at the side of his face and acknowledged. "That would be the – what do you call it? The _nuclear option,_ but I don't know what purpose it would serve. Believe me, Annie already knows that Kate would do anything for her. The only one that makes look bad is you for making her have to do things that way."

Raymond frowned.

"Red, Kate has spent the last twenty-however many years doing _anything_ and e _verything_ she could think of to _make_ Annie happy and keep her that way. You _don't_ get to waltz in here and undo that."

"Watch me."

Sam tried again. "Red, I know she's not going about it the right way, but Mr. Kaplan -"

At Raymond's foul expression at the use of the name, Sam conceded. "- _Kate._ Kate's just trying to get Annie a second chance with you. That's all Kate wants. That's all they both want."

Still feeling quite raw about his recent discovery, Raymond drained the last of Sam's beer and petulantly looked away. "What if I don't want a second chance with her?"

Sam admitted. "I don't think what you want factors into Kate's thought process."

 _OOO_

It was late when Raymond finally got home. Very late. Still, he found Carla sitting at the kitchen table waiting up for him.

"You should be asleep." He told her as he kissed the top of her head before opening the refrigerator door.

"Yes, I should be." Carla agreed before throwing him for a loop by asking. "Raymond, are you having an affair?"

"What? No."

"I ask because you've stayed out all night a couple of times now and last week while you were supposedly at work, work called to see how you were feeling and if I thought you would be well enough to make it in the next day."

Raymond closed the refrigerator. "I'm not having an affair."

"Red, we're expecting a baby. You're scared and -"

"- It's not that." Raymond frowned. "Do you remember after my father's funeral, how you suggested I should look for my mother? Reach out to her. Well I did."

It was time. Sitting down at the table with her, Raymond told her the whole story.

When he was done, Carla just stared at him. "Raymond, why do you do that? Why do you feel the need to make up these convoluted stories? Just admit you hated the watch I gave you and you didn't want to come home because my parents were visiting."

"I do really, _really_ dislike your parents, but I am telling you the truth." Raymond insisted. "This insane little sociopath is trying to blackmail me – us – into having dinner with my mother tomorrow –" With daylight starting to peek through the windows, Raymond corrected himself. "- tonight!"

Carla put her hand over his on the table. "Raymond, it's only natural to feel conflicted about your mother after finding out she's alive after all these years, but if you're curious about her and you want us to go have dinner with her just say so. You don't have to come up with some absurd excuse to justify us going."

"That's not what's going on!" Raymond protested, but Carla had already hoisted herself up out of her seat and was leaving the room.

 _tbc_

A/N One chapter left to this segment. If you've made it this far kindly leave a review.


	16. Chapter 16

_Meet Cute_

 _Chapter 16_

"Why didn't you tell me their house was this nice?" Carla hissed at him as they got out of the car. "I would never have agreed to come straight from pee wee soccer practice!"

"It will be fine." Raymond assured her before taking in the sight of Jenny's muddy cleats and shin guards. "Or maybe it won't be and we won't get invited back. Ever."

"And ..." Carla admitted. " _I_ would have dressed up a little nicer."

"Stop that!" Raymond told her as she licked her fingers and tried to scrub a mark off of Jennifer's face.

Begrudgingly, Raymond rang the doorbell.

As soon as Annie opened the door, Raymond blurted out. "It's a school night. We really can't stay long." They weren't even in the door yet and Raymond was already planning his escape.

"Oh ..." Annie looked disappointed but quickly covered it with a smile. "I understand. Everything is ready. It's just in the warming oven. If everyone's hungry, we can head right in to the dining room."

Bending down to Jenny's level, Annie asked. "Would you like to help me dress the salad?"

She held out her hand to Jenny.

Jenny loved to 'help' in the kitchen. Despite having literally just met Annie, she took her hand eagerly.

Stepping through the living room, Raymond thought something was different about the room. He tried to figure out what it was. It took him the length of the room to realize it wasn't something, it was everything.

It used to be white walls and white furniture with white carpet.

Now it was blue on blue on blue.

Even the art on the walls had been changed out. They were still tacky replicas of works so famous that they were identifiable, but now they were different tacky replicas.

The only thing that was the same was the piano.

Raymond couldn't resist making a crack. "Someone alert the Liechtenstein. Their _Cupid Blowing a Soap Bubble_ has gone missing."

He didn't comment on the other Rembrandt hanging beside it – _Portrait of a Boy in Fancy Dress –_ more commonly referred to as _Boy Unfinished_.

Annie wore a smile as she asked. "Have you been to Vienna? Did you like the Cupid there?"

Raymond didn't answer.

Annie left him and Carla in the dining room and made her way to the kitchen with Jenny.

"I think your mom is a little high strung." Carla whispered to him once they were alone.

"She's not my mom - and yes, I've noticed."

"We have place cards. There are four of us, but there are place cards telling us where to sit."

Planning to shuffle them around just to mess with Annie, Raymond picked his up.

Finding the pawn ticket taped inside the fold, he wasn't so sure Annie had been the one to put out the place cards.

"What's that?" Carla asked.

"Nothing." Raymond lied as he stuck the ticket in his pocket and picked a different seat.

 _OOO_

Entering the house by the backdoor, Kate found Annie in the kitchen hand washing the dishes.

She didn't say anything. She didn't have to. Annie said it for her.

"I know we have a dishwasher." Drying her hands on a dishtowel, Annie explained. "But, I wanted something to do to keep busy while I waited up for you. I wasn't sure when you would get home. You have excellent timing. They left not ten minutes ago."

Kate had been circling the block wanting to be there soon after Raymond left in case things had gone poorly.

Hands dried, Annie cupped Kate's face with both hands and kissed her.

"How was dinner?" Kate asked putting her hands around Annie's waist as their kiss ended and Annie's hands migrated to her shoulders.

"Red wasn't much better than last time, but ..." Annie smiled so hopefully. "... he came. It's a start."

"Yes, it is." Kate agreed.

"I don't like you not being here. I'd like you and Red to get to know each other."

"I wouldn't push that." Kate warned.

Annie nodded. "I know. Have you eaten?"

Kate nodded. "I met Sam at the diner. Don't worry, he is more afraid of you than he is of me. He made me order gelatin."

"Good."

Kate gently suggested. "You know it's been more than a week. I can start to eat solid foods again. I _should_ start to eat solid foods again."

"That's not what your book said."

"That book was written over twenty-five years ago."

Annie didn't look convinced. Changing the subject, she asked. "And how is Trudy?"

Kate detected that tone in Annie's voice as she deliberately called the waitress from the diner by the wrong name. "Her name is Shelby." Kate corrected her. "I don't know. I was a little too distracted worrying about how your evening was going to pay much attention to what she was saying or Sam for that matter."

Picking up one of the dishes to dry, Kate prompted Annie as she went back to washing. "So tell me more about your evening ..."

Annie's smile was back. "He brought his wife, Carla, and their little girl, Jennifer. Jenny's adorable. She ..."

 _OOO_

After dropping Carla and Jenny back at the house, Raymond went to the pawn shop. He was disappointed to discover the man only had one of his medals and no other tickets in his name or Kate's.

No matter.

He had tried to do the gentlemanly thing. He had tried to just walk away.

Kate wouldn't have it.

So he would bide his time.

He would play Kate's game.

But he would play it better.

And he would make damn certain Kate regretted dragging him into her and Annie's lives.

 _Finis_

A/N Okay so that concludes round one. If you stuck it out this long kindly take a moment to let me know what you think.

This story was intended as a 3 bout match with the first round going to Mr. Kaplan. I realize it is all au as of _Requiem_ so I completely get it if no one is interested in continuing to read the series. If you are interested in reading the next round speak up.


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